I'd Rather Be Eating

Year of the Dragon

2012-02-09T18:14:00.000-08:00

I've been so busy running races these past few weekends that I nearly forgot to blog about the Lunar New Year that came and went on January 23rd this year. My parents tell me that they use to celebrate the Lunar New Year in a big way when they use to live in Vietnam. The day before the Lunar New Year was a day of renewal (cleaning the house from top to bottom). This included bathing and grooming as you were not to bathe, groom or clean on New Years Day. The act of washing, cutting/shaving or sweeping symbolized washing, cutting or sweeping their luck for the year out the door. Not how you want to start a new year.

My parents say that it is different here in the states. The Lunar New Year is just like any other day. We don't even get a day off of work. In Asia, almost everyone takes off at least a week to welcome the new year. Now that's what I call a party!

My parents are amazing cooks! The Lunar New Year feast they prepare each year is always a button buster. It's like Thanksgiving in a way. Wear your comfy pants to the table. Colorful, bold, flavorful dishes each symbolizing health, wealth and prosperity! Some tasty symbols if you ask me.

Our family traditionally go out to have dim sum on New Years Day and it was no exception this year. I love me some dim sum.

A lot of red! The color of good luck as it is rumored to frighten away evil spirits. I took these photos at the Lunar New Year Festival in Monterey Park (CA) on January 21.

Lots of street food vendors were there. I wonder what he is cooking up?

Yum! Grilled seafood on a stick. Too bad I had just eaten prior to coming to this festival, else I would've been all over those squid tentacles on a stick.

A calligrapher writing up some spring couplets to be hung outside one's home for good fortune. Yeah I'll take a hundred of those, please! Need all the fortune I can get. Happy year of the Dragon!

Eleven

2012-02-08T09:20:00.000-08:00

Today's post is brought to you by the number 11...AH AH AH AH AH!

I was tagged by Krissy over at Shiwase Life for this 11 question thing. I was number 10 on her list of 10 people so I beat out some lucky sucker...just kidding Krissy. Thanks for thinking of me. No one has ever tagged me before because 1) I have no friends and 2) It's ~~hard~~ lame to play tag by oneself. This thing looks long and tedious but since this is my first tag and Krissy seems like such a sweet person on Twitter, I will play along.

Here is how it works:
1. Post these rules.
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself.
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post.
4. ~~Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.~~
5. ~~Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them.~~
6. ~~No stuff in the tagging section like “you are tagged if you are reading this”. You (the blogger) legitimately have to tag 11 (or so) people.~~

11 Random Things About Me
1. I have memories from when I was only 6 months old. My mom has confirmed that these memories are accurate.
2. I've been on a boat invaded by real life pirates in the South Pacific.
3. Malaria almost took my life when I was a toddler.
4. I lived on a small island in Indonesia for 6 months.
5. I've passed out once from over exertion at a track meet.
6. My second sister and I share the exact same middle name.
7. I have a fear of heights.
8. My given Asian name means Jade in English.
9. I spoke only Vietnamese from the age of 4-8.
10. I fear going to the dentist more than the average person.
11. I'm attracted to the color purple.

Krissy's Questions

What is your favorite Amusement/Theme Park? Universal Studios
Would you rather visit the Ocean or the Mountains? Ocean
If you could visit any destination in the world, where would it be? Italy
What is the one food or drink you could NEVER EVER give up? Water
If there was a movie released about your life, who would play you? Michelle Yeoh, just because there aren't really that many Asian actress that are well known in the US.
What is your favorite quote or song lyric? Any and all quotes from the Princess Bride movie.
Do you have a crazy, far-fetched bucket list item in your life? (I am sure you do!) What is it? I actually don't have a list. I know, so boring.
Where’s the best place to get breakfast/brunch where you live? What do you order? I love the French Toast at Side Street Cafe (Newport Beach, CA).
If you could compete in any Olympic Sport, what would it be? Track and Field
Who is your favorite news anchor? Don't have one.
If you could have a $5K shopping spree at any store, which would you choose? Target

So the buck ends here since as I mentioned above, I have no friends. Plus I think everyone that I know online has already filled out one of these things.

2012 Surf City Half Marathon - Race Recap

2012-02-05T15:20:00.000-08:00

Date: February 5, 2012
Location: Huntington Beach, CA
Start: 7:45am (wave start)
Finish: 1:52:34

Another race morning and another 5am wake up call. Third weekend in a row that I am up before the chickens. But look at the beautiful sunrise at the beach!

I love this race if only because of actual bathrooms and toilets that can be flushed and not porta potties.

I started in a later corral so that I could run with my friend D who was planning to pace a friend. I wasn't very confident about what my calves would be doing today. I spent all of yesterday icing, compressing and rolling out my calves but I was not in the clear of a DNF. I just wanted to finish so that I could get my medal.

I took this photo just minutes prior to the gun going off. The corrals were very casual this year but everything was fine. There was no jam leaving the start line.

Mile 1 - 8:39 <-- The first 2 miles I was trying to keep up with D and A.
Mile 2 - 8:31
Mile 3 - 9:30 <-- My right calf started to bother me and then my shin splints decided to make an appearance. I pulled off to the side to stretch. It was painful. I thought I would have to stop. D went on ahead. Didn't think I would be able to catch up. Took me the next 5-6 miles to finally catch up to him again.
Mile 4 - 8:45 <-- Running through discomfort
Mile 5 - 9:01 <-- Left calf was hurting me so I slowed down and walked a bit to stretch it out.
Mile 6 - 8:45 <-- Running through discomfort
Mile 7 - 8:28 <-- My legs were still not right but they were warmed up now so I started to run faster.
Mile 8 - 8:15 <-- Negative split the second half of the race
Mile 9 - 8:18 <-- Caught up to D at this mile.
Mile 10 - 8:07 <-- Ran into Sister J. She ran with me a bit.
Mile 11 - 8:31 <-- Little incline in this mile
Mile 12 - 8:11
Mile 13 - 8:12 - Happy to be done with #25!

So last night, I had pizza! Let me introduce you to my new carbo loading love...Papa John's cheese-less garden pizza with pineapple and anchovies! Love!

Currently, I am watching the Super Bowl and relaxing! How sweet that Blake Shelton sang America The Beautiful with his wife Miranda Lambert. I am not a sport watching girl so I come for the food and celebrity watching. Maybe. If I don't fall asleep.

Love Surf City

2012-02-03T21:41:00.000-08:00

Earlier this afternoon I took a little drive with my friend D over to Huntington Beach to pick up our race packets. We battled some Friday traffic and encountered a jam into the expo parking lot once we got there. Good thing D was driving because people were driving crazy.

It was a beautiful day at the beach today! I took this photo because there were thousands of seagulls sitting on the sand. Thousands!

Once we entered the expo, it was equally crowded inside! Man, this is the reason I hate large races.

We got this nifty tote...

...along with this kinda cute shirt. Looks like a baseball shirt. I do believe this is the cutest Surf City shirt I own now. The unisex/men shirt was more of a teal color with a round neckline. I think I like the color of the men's shirt a little bit better.

So this year I am a fourth year Legacy Club member and picked up this shirt. It is a cotton shirt. I don't wear it for running. I have a couple of these at home and have never wore any of them. Wish they would give out something different each year instead of the same old shirt every year.

We left there without signing up for any races or buying anything. Don't know if that is a good or bad thing. Anyhow I will be running my 25th half marathon on Super Bowl Sunday. Wish I could say that I am excited about it but I am actually concerned as I believe that I have a calf strain on both legs and I don't know how it happened. I have the worst luck at this race. Here's to making it to the end in one piece!

Ramen Yamadaya - Costa Mesa, CA

2012-02-02T14:27:00.000-08:00

Remember that crazy thing I did a month ago? You know, where I vowed not to eat any cupcakes or ramen during the month of January. I still can't remember why I thought that was would be a good idea. All I have to say is thank goodness it was over yesterday. I was starting to get the shakes. Maybe that was just my stomach rumbling. My little experiment proved nothing to me except that it was possible to not eat one of my most favorite meals for a month.

So to celebrate the end of my ramen fast I went to Ramen Yamadaya. Yeah I did a little dance. I even went so far as to make a note of it on my calendar to come straight here on February 1.

Don't know why that Grand Opening sign is still up, they opened shop back in November 2011. I've never been here before and I cannot remember how I found out about this place. No matter because I love trying out new restaurants! Ramen Yamadaya is a chain with locations in Culver City, Westwood, Torrance and now Costa Mesa. You know this place is legitimate when they have a store in Torrance where there are lots of other good ramen restaurants around.

Upon walking into the restaurant, I see this large blackboard with some stuff written on it. It is a blue print to a bowl of Tonkotsu Ramen. ^_^ I need one of these to hang at my place. It's a work of art!

The menu is not large because they only serve Tonkotsu ramen. Twenty-hour Tonkotsu ramen to be exact.

M ordered the Chashu Ramen with thin noodles. He commented that the bowl came with more chashu than other places. He really likes meat! The portions sizes are pretty good even if you have a hungry man on your hands.

I ordered the 7oz Tsukemen which was plenty of noodles by the way. The waitress made it sound like it was not going to fill me up but it was a lot of noodles. Stick with the 7oz unless you are really hungry.

I love the thick chewy noodles and the flavorful dipping broth. I've only ever had Tsukemen once before but this one blew that other time out of the water. It had the right amount of toppings and the pork was cooked well.

Gyozas - I wasn't planning on ordering this but I always do when I go to a new place just to try it out. These were very tender and fell apart when I bit into them. I love having a couple more ramen choices now and you can bet that I will be back. Oh yes I will.

Ramen Yamadaya
1175 Baker Street
Costa Mesa, CA
714-556-0091

Cucina Enoteca - Irvine, CA (Spectrum)

2012-01-30T12:46:00.000-08:00

I stumbled upon Cucina Enoteca by accident. It was a happy accident don't get me wrong but I had originally planned to have dinner at Javier's next door. It was date night and my date and I both really like Javier's but the wait time was 2 hours. So the thing is, they do not take reservations on the weekends. Friday night is considered the start of the weekend to them. My date had called up Javier's after work to check on the wait time and they informed us that there was no wait currently and we were only 10 minutes away so we decided to chance it. We got there 15 minutes after we hung up the phone only to find out that the "no wait" had turned into a 2 hour wait. How does that even happen in the span of 15 minutes. Only in Irvine!

I hate waiting! I only wait when I absolutely have too. I very rarely wait to get into a restaurant. If I cannot get into a place, I will just leave and find another place. There are just too many places around here to wait for food. I'm just not going to do it. Luckily, on this particular night as we peeped into the newly opened Cucina Enoteca, there was no waiting. I'm only assuming it was perfect timing on our part that we got a table right away because this place looks like it should be filled to the brim with people.

We were seated at this really nice table at the center of the restaurant at this table with these really comfortable chairs and romantic chandelier lighting. It was really cozy. I could tell right away that this was my kind of place.

Farmer's Chopped Salad - I've been on the outs with salads lately but this one...well this one pulled me back in. It may very well be the best salad I've ever had. It is simple with a very simple tangy vinaigrette but it is amazing! Oh it is also topped with crumbled blue cheese but we left that off because of...you know...lactose intolerant me.

Short Rib Pappardelle - this rich wide ribbon pasta dish was really flavorful and the short rib was tender. If you are looking for a hearty stick to your ribs kind of meal, order this dish!

Pepperoni and Fennel Sausage Pizza - their pizzas have a nice crust on them.

You don't need to ask me Mr./Mrs. Server, I ALWAYS save room for dessert.

Zeppole - Italian donut holes in a caramel like sauce. Nirvana on a plate!

So we fell so hard for Cucina Enoteca that we came back the next night. It was a Saturday night and it was really busy. We didn't make a reservation and decided to try our luck again at getting seated right away. No dice. There was a 1.5 hour wait! I didn't know if I should wait or not. I put my name down since my date was still trying to find a parking space. By some amazing luck, my reservation buzzer went off just as my date came walking up. We were seated on a really busy night. So lucky. I find out later that they had mixed up the reservations and we accidentally got seated earlier than planned. Food service was slow today since it was so busy. They gave us complimentary bread. You normally have to order bread at this place.

CE 'brandt farms' Burger w/ truffle fries...

Yes I said TRUFFLE fries...

Shrimp Puttanesca Angel Hair - another very simple dish with giant perfectly cooked shrimps accented with capers and chopped green olives. It is a runner's carbo-loading dream come true. Well for this runner anyways. :)

This place has great food, a cozy atmosphere, some great wines if you are into that. Plus, it is right across the way from the Edward's theater if you want to catch a movie after dinner. I like this place a lot and will be back to sample their other dishes in the near future. My goal is to try everything on their menu! It's hard work but someone has to do it.

February 3, 2012

One Friday afternoon I decided that I wanted to go to Cucina Enoteca for dinner so I went online to make a reservation. I almost could not believe it when I saw that they were totally booked up for the entire evening. So I took to Twitter to express my sadness...

Next thing I knew Cucina Enoteca contacted me directly to let me know that they had a last minute cancellation and that I could have the table if I wanted it. Score!

We get there and was promptly seated. I sent the restaurant a tweet to thank them for accommodating my procrastinating self. They replied and said buon appetito!

I decided to order the Farmer's Chopped Salad...

...and this Cotechino Sausage Stuffed Squid! This dish was an explosion of flavors. The sausage was sweet while the spicy tomato brodo was savory with a little kick. A really unique and interesting dish!

I don't know if they had seen my tweets but the chef sent out this complimentary Beet and Ricotta Salad...

...and this Yellowtail Crudo! The yellowtail was so fresh and just look at how beautiful it looks. Like a work of art. M commented that he really liked this dish and he is not a big fish fan. I was surprised when he told me that this was the best raw fish dish he has ever had. He doesn't like seafood so this was saying a lot. The beets in the Beet Salad was so tender and sweet. I wasn't planning on eating so much salad but I couldn't help myself. So good! I had wanted to save room for dessert but the two amazing dishes the chef sent out took up all the real estate in my stomach. But I was full and happy! Another amazing meal in the books.

Cucina Enoteca (Irvine Spectrum)
31 Fortune Drive
Irvine, CA 92618
(949) 861-2222

2012 Tinker Bell Half Marathon - Race Recap

2012-01-27T16:21:00.000-08:00

Date: January 29, 2012

Location: Disneyland, Anaheim CA

Start: 5:45am <-- sleep running

Finish: 1:59:09

Elevation: Mostly flat!

This is the inaugural running of the Tinker Bell Half Marathon and my second Disney race. Sure Disney races are expensive as all heck but you get pixie dust, a huge medal at the finish line and a well organized race. Sometimes that is all it takes to suck me in.

I got up this morning at 3am! I can't tell you how not normal this feels to me. I am not a morning person and I really dislike when races start so early that I have to get up at 3 am! I'm Asian and all but I was so sleepy that my eyes look "squint-ier" than usual. So here's my costume. I decided at the last minute to wear that black jacket. I was going to go with black arm sleeves but I was cold like I always am so I decided to wear the jacket.

This was taken at the starting line in corral A just minutes before GO time! There were ALOT of people there. Mostly women. Dressed in pretty costumes. It was like one giant pixie dust cloud.

So I didn't stop to take too many photos this time around. I skipped a lot of character photo ops because the lines were insanely long for some of them and mostly I was just trying to survive the race but this was taken around mile 3 or 4 on Main Street USA. The course was a little bit different from the Disneyland Half. Just different routing but pretty similar. I like this course better than the Disneyland Half. Just a personal preference.

The castle!

This was towards the end of the race. I decided to stop to take one photo with the cast of Toy Story when I realized how sucky my time already was. No use beating a dead horse. Mile splits are below. I negative split this race. Strange. I'm starting to feel a little bit better and hope that my upcoming race times will reflect this. One thing is for sure, I need to start running a whole lot more in the next upcoming weeks/month to regain my running endurance. I've lost a lot of fitness lately and racing is less fun when you are wheezing and huffing and puffing and not being able to enjoy the race.

My sweetie took this photo of me about half a mile away from the finish line.

Ah, I really like this medal! It is huge!

January 28, 2012: Expo

I decided to go get my bib today at the Disneyland Hotel since I am going to be busy tomorrow. Luckily I had just ran the Disneyland Half a couple of months ago so all the logistics were basically the same. I was able to get in and out of there in 30 minutes. The parking people only give you a 30 minute "grace" parking allotment if you decide to park in the hotel lot. So you need to be quick about things. If you loiter around too long they will charge you extra. You don't want to be charge extra because you know everything at Disney is expensive. So I did what I had to do and this included walking the entire expo floor in about 30 minutes. Yeah I'm skilled like that. Don't mess with me, I'm small and can slip in and out of places quick-style. Like a ninja.

There were tons of fairy accessories on display and even a booth with Disney hair stylists to turn you into a princess! For $39.95 of course.

Team Sparkle booth and all their cute accessories. $10 wings people! If you need wings and who doesn't need wings, go and get them there!

I'm all set for race day! See you at the starting line!

Course:

Mile 1 - 9:37 <-- Very crowded in the beginning
Mile 2 - 11:05 <-- Potty break
Mile 3 - 9:57 <-- Struggling with shin splints for the next 2-3 miles
Mile 4 - 9:07
Mile 5 - 8:40
Mile 6 - 8:39
Mile 7 - 8:43
Mile 8 - 8:31 <-- Things starting to turn around for the better
Mile 9 - 8:23
Mile 10 - 8:24
Mile 11 - 8:15
Mile 12 - 7:07 <-- Went nuts
Mile 13 - 8:28

Track and Fail

2012-01-25T15:10:00.000-08:00

Today's post will be in list format because I am short on time but not on talking about useless info.

1) Thank you for the nice comments despite my lackluster performance at Carlsbad last weekend.

2) Track workout! Haven't done any in a really long time. Felt like an overgrown slug out there. In an effort to resurrect ORF (Operation Run Faster), I tagged along for some 800s with Sarah and Margot this morning. Let me just say that getting up at the butt crack of dawn to do track work is not my idea of a good time but it helps to have other people there to suffer with. It was all very casual and they did not make me feel bad that I was a giant slug. I did a couple of warm-up laps before Sarah and Margot showed up and then did a couple more with them. We did 6 sets of 800s. Well I did them at my own pace. I've gotten slower since the last time I did track work (even my best lap was about 10 seconds slower than my previous time) but this is a good start to build from. The important thing is that I am looking forward to going back to improve on these.

1) 3:39
2) 3:35
3) 3:43
4) 3:50
5) 3:47
6) 3:40

I guess eating this buffalo burger from Whole Foods last night was a good call. Ok, maybe not. It wasn't very good either.

3) I spent some time last night working on my Tinkerbell Half costume. I am a big arts and craft nerd so this sort of thing is right up my alley. It is almost complete!

4) Finally, if you happen to be looking for some compression wear, head on over to Aspaeris because they are having a 50% off sale this week. Use code "cooleronline" at checkout!

2012 Carlsbad Half Marathon - Race Recap

2012-01-22T23:39:00.000-08:00

Date: January 22, 2012
Location: Carlsbad, CA
Start: 7:30am
Finish: 2:08:01
Elevation:

Mile 1 - 8:42
Mile 2 - 9:48 <-- slowed down a bit, realized I needed to conserve energy
Mile 3 - 9:12
Mile 4 - 9:12
Mile 5 - 9:48 <-- not feeling well, wanted to quit
Mile 6 - 10:16 <-- bathroom break
Mile 7 - 9:19
Mile 8 - 9:11
Mile 9 - 9:11
Mile 10 - 11:08 <-- running around looking for a porta potty with tp on opposite side of the course
Mile 11 - 12:16 <-- took 2 miles to finally find a potty with tp, what a day!
Mile 12 - 8:54 <-- feeling a bit better but too late in the game to do anything about it
Mile 13 - 8:40

This race was the second time I've ran Carlsbad. Back in 2008, I ran the half in a time of 1:53:24, it was a PR for me at the time. No recap for that race that year because that was prior to when I started blogging regularly. That year I signed up for Carlsbad in an attempt to get the Triple Crown medal for finishing Carlsbad, La Jolla and America's Finest City Half. I haven't ran it again since as Carlsbad isn't exactly in my backyard. It is a good forty minute haul down the 5 South. This year I decided to go back and run the course again. I can't remember why I signed up but I did. I signed up way in advance and could not have foreseen that I would be "ill" around this time. Oh well, you win some, you lose some.

And here I am standing at the start line this morning just minutes before the gun went off. I overslept. Again. I accidentally rolled over this morning to turn off my alarm and fell back asleep until about 6:30am. Things were a blur after that but somehow I made it to the start line.

In case you are wondering, this is a good course in my book. A couple of rolling hills to make things interesting but not so difficult as to make a PR impossible. Plus, you get to run along the beach for a couple of the middle miles. It was a gorgeous day with perfect running temperatures. Rain had been predicted for race morning earlier in the week. I was so worried but it turned out to be a beautiful day. Sadly I was not having a good racing day despite the perfect conditions. In fact it was around the time when I took this photo that I first considered dropping out of the race. This was around mile 5.

But I kept going because I'm a lot of things but I've never DNF a race before.

It helped that I was in good company. I thought about throwing in the towel again at around mile 10 but decided that I was so close to the end that I should just tough it out.

Me - 1, Colitis - 0

So the day before the race, I drove down to Carlsbad to pick up my bib. It was raining. Ugh! I seriously hate rain. The carpeting inside the expo was sopping wet. The rain was coming down sideways almost and got my clothes damp from walking from my car to the expo tent. Hate.the.rain.

I made a beeline for the bib table then to the t-shirt table and then high tailed it out of there. I think it took me all of 10 minutes. Maybe 5.

I love that the women's shirt is fitted! Plus, on the back of the bib was a couple for a free burrito from Chipotle. Yum!

Race #2 is coming up next weekend with race #3 following close behind the weekend after that. It's going to be a long month.

My First Race of 2012

2012-01-20T09:38:00.000-08:00

I seriously cannot believe that I have a race this weekend. Felt like I had so much time to train for it but the day has come and I feel unprepared. In my defense, I've been ill. [TMI stuff coming up.]

I have an auto-immune condition called Ulcerative Colitis that affects my colon that makes it next to impossible to run/train on certain days. I cannot site exact numbers but many people are afflicted by Colitis in varying degrees from mild to severe. There are also different types of Colitis, with Ulcerative being just one variety. I've been living with this condition for eight years now but it never gets easier. There is currently no cure, only pain and symptom management. I never know when it will decide to show up or for how long. Sounds like an uninvited house guest and in a way it is. If you look at my running history, you can sort of tell when UC takes over my life as I usually log very low weekly mileages and struggle to finish races. That is the risk I often take when I decide to sign up for races a year in advance. Sure I could probably find another activity to do but I love to run. At one point in my life a couple of years ago during a bad flare-up I thought about quitting running. That thought lasted about a week before I decided that I was not going to let this thing get the best of me. So for the most part, I train hard when I am healthy and symptom free and dial it back when I am not able to give it my all. It's worked for me so far and I am grateful that I am still able to enjoy one of my favorite activities.

Source

With that said, I'm curious to see how I will fair at this weekend's Carlsbad Half Marathon. It is my first race of 2012 and I am very nervous because I haven't ran over 10 miles in a couple of weeks and my running has been slow and all the miles have been logged at the gym on a treadmill. I've trained as hard as I could considering my symptoms and you can bet that I am going to go out there and give it everything I have. I have a couple of back-to-back weekend races in the next couple of weeks so I need to pace myself and try to enjoy it.

The First One Hundred Days

2012-01-14T01:00:00.000-08:00

Photo credit to Sister K

Today marks the 100th day since my beautiful niece was born into this world. Traditional Chinese households still celebrate this milestone but we had already celebrated her one-month celebration a couple of months ago. Happy 100th Day E! I got a text from my brother-in-law the other night letting me know that she laughed her first real laugh. I cannot wait to hear it! She has grown so much.

I'm embarrassed to say that I don't know too much about traditional Chinese rituals and ceremonies but I love my culture and am fascinated by everything that I find out along the way. Yesterday I did some online research on the meaning of a child's first 100 days on earth and found this little write-up that is both fascinating and curious at the same time. I don't know if anyone still follow these steps outside of China but a lot of it is based on symbolic significance as well as superstitions.

And because I live for food references...see the highlighted text below. Yu Char Kuei is a fried dough pastry that is a little bit sweet and salty at the same time. Often eaten with coffee and used for dipping or eaten with congee. It says in the text below that you would give this to a child on his/her 100th days so that he/she can learn to walk. Like a mini walking stick?

Source

Red (colored) eggs!

"In the first 100 days of a child's life there are at least five events celebrating her life. On the morning of the third day, a Chinese baby gets her first bath. The midwife officiates this ceremony which is attended by female friends and relatives. The midwife sits with the mother on her bed surrounded by a straw sieve, a mirror, a padlock, an onion, a comb and a weight. An offering of incense to the god and goddess of the bed burns nearby. The baby is bathed in hot water boiled with locust branches and artemis plants. There is red silk and a string of cash fastened around the tub. Guests place a piece of fruit or colored egg into the water. Each guest places a spoonful of cool water in the basin and gives a small gift of silver to the baby. The baby's biggest celebration is at one month when the mother's allowed out of her room. Family and friends dine and celebrate all night. Money is given in bright red envelopes and the baby wears a silver or gold padlock around his neck locking the child to this world. On the hundredth day some Chinese families host another celebration. Friends and family bring fish and chicken to the child's home. When the chicken is cooked, the tongue is rubbed on the baby's lips to make the child a good talker. And the baby's paternal grandfather may present the baby with a rocking chair. Traditionally, the child's first birthday is also celebrated with a large feast and offerings to the gods and goddesses. Parents also place a variety of objects in a basket -- a pen, silver, official seal, needlework and some toys -- and offer the basket to the child. The object the baby grabs signifies the child's future. The traditional first-birthday gift is a gold ring meant to protect the baby during harsh times. A long bread, yu char kuei, is given to the child for the first time. It is believed it will help him learn how to walk. The day he walks, a relative walks behind him with a knife drawing three lines on the ground. The Chinese believe there are invisible bindings around a child's ankles binding him to a previous life. With the bindings cut, the child walks freely forever." (Source)

Compulsory

2012-01-13T13:59:00.000-08:00

I was at jury duty yesterday. I know it is one of my duties as a citizen but boy I just don't have time to sit around watching TV, nervously waiting for my name to be called. On the other hand, I got a break from work so it wasn't all bad. The best part was that we got dismissed early so it turned out to be a good day after all.

I grabbed a late lunch at a sandwich shop near my place. Tuna sandwich on wheat. It was overpriced and mediocre. I don't know why I keep coming to this place. Can someone please tell me where I can get a good tuna sandwich in the OC?

So I may have wandered into the bakery section of a market down the ways from the sandwich place. I was weak from ~~doing my civic duty~~, ~~eating a mediocre sandwich~~, I was just weak.

Kaya (Soft Tofu) - Irvine, CA

2012-01-09T15:46:00.000-08:00

I have to admit that I am not all that knowledgeable about Korean cuisine. All I know is that I like it. I can count all the times that I've eaten at Korean restaurants. Most of my encounters with Korean cuisine have been because of my brother-in-law who loves Korean BBQ and Soft Tofu Restaurants. There have been a couple of times that I've accidentally walked into a restaurant not really knowing that it served Korean food. Yeah stuff like that happens to me all the time.

Anyhow, this past weekend Sister K was in town and whenever she is in town I always want to try new restaurants with her because she is a pretty adventurous eater. We actually found this place by chance; and in "we" I actually mean my sister did. :D

Long story short, by the time we got to the restaurant that we had originally wanted to eat at on that day, lunch was already over so they were closed. Sad! Sister K quickly hoped on Yelp and found this place and it took little convincing before I had already turned the car around the was headed here.

Some Japanese and Korean restaurants have fake food displays so you can see what the dishes look like before you order. It's a smart idea because people eat with their eyes first.

Since we were having a late lunch, it wasn't too crowded or noisy in there which was nice. While I was sitting there, I realized that I had been there before. Perhaps about 10+ years ago when I first started living in Irvine. Don't know why I had not been back. I even remembered what I had ordered.

They brought out a veggie pancake-like appetizer for us to snack on while we waited for our orders. It was pretty greasy and I probably would not have eaten it except that I was hungry.

I decided to order the Kal Gooksoo which is a seafood broth noodle soup and Sister K ordered the Seafood Soft Tofu Soup. Her soup was really flavorful and if you have never had soft tofu before, you need to go and try it. The tofu is the silken variety and it sits in a flavorful broth that is served piping hot alongside a bowl of freshly steamed rice. I think I am going to order this the next time I come back.

Here is the Kal Gooksoo up close and personal. The seafood broth to this noodle soup was equally flavorful in a different way then the soft tofu soup. The noodles were chewy and had that made in-house taste. I have to say that very few things in life compares to a big bowl of hot noodle soup. It's a total comfort food thing.

So one of the coolest things about Korean cuisine is the banchan! Banchans are small dishes of food served with your main meal. Kind of like little side dishes. Each one different. Offering different textures and tastes. A couple of banchans we had with our meal included marinated potatoes, steamed sprouts, seaweed salad, kimchi and some stewed tofu, just to name a few. Different restaurants tend to serve different types of banchan but they always seem to include kimchi. That is a must! I enjoyed my meal here today and hope to come back soon to try some of their other offerings. Can't let another ten years go by without eating here again.

Kaya (Soft Tofu) Restaurant
14120 Culver Dr, Ste G

Irvine, CA 92604

(949) 726-9424

Spectating the Socal Half Marathon

2012-01-07T21:48:00.000-08:00

This morning was the running of the SoCal Half Marathon held in Irvine the first weekend of January. Believe it or not I did not run it this year even though it is literally in my back yard. My UC is acting up so I haven't been running as much as I would have liked but I woke up early this morning to cheer on my fellow runners.

The spirited ladies of Team Sparkle: Sarah, Kat, Heather and her daughter, Julie, some super short chick and Margot. When I saw Heather's tweet a couple of weeks ago about being out on the course on race morning to cheer on the runners, it occurred to me that this was the perfect opportunity for me to still be a part of the race without running it. Plus I would get to spend some time with some of my Ragnar teammates.

I'm such a rookie at this race cheering stuff, unlike Sarah who came with an actual cowbell or Heather who came with posters or Julie who came with extra cowbells and mimosas (thank you for lending me a cowbell!) or Margot who came with orange slices. Gah! Next time!

It was actually really fun to spectate and cheer, plus we coordinated the heck out of those Sparkle skirts. Hehe. It wasn't even planned. Being a spectator did make me realize that I need to be more interactive with the crowds the next time I run a race.

Photo borrowed from Sarah

I left my cheerleading duties early because Sister K was in town and I wanted to spend time with her.

We went to the farmers market to pick up some produce for the week. Then we went to a late lunch at a Korean restaurant. I will post about that at a later time.

I've been craving strawberries but they have not been looking very good in the markets but today I saw these organic ones and they are amazing!

Since we had a late lunch, we made this snack later on in the evening to eat while watching Chopped. Calling it a day! Good night!

Parting Is Such Sweet/Savory Sorrow

2012-01-03T13:59:00.000-08:00

Today we are going to talk about food! I know I already talk about food on a regular basis around here but this post is somewhat about dieting. Okay, so it is about dieting. So for the most part, I don't talk too much about dieting on this site because basically I don't diet. I eat healthy most of the time and try to stay within reason with the not so healthy stuff. There have been days when I've really gone overboard. As in 'food como' overboard. Can't go back and change that now so I move on.

For the most part I think I eat pretty healthy. That was until recently when I scanned through my photos from last year and found all these photos of cupcakes that I ~~may~~ ~~or may not~~ have eaten. Eek! Keep in mind that these are just the ones I remembered to photograph. There may be countless others that I may have eaten on the go or in my closet. Also, you will notice that these are just cupcakes, not to include regular cakes and other forms of desserts and sweets. I didn't want to shock you with that collage. Plus I don't think it would have all fit on one collage. Wow, I have one heck of a sweet tooth.

Let's have a look at my other food obsession...namely ramen. So this is a collage of all the photos I took of ramen last year. I'm certain that there were more bowls than shown here eaten by me. Oh wow, I've eaten quite a few bowls. And by 'few', I mean a million. Ramen is a comfort food for me. I crave it when I'm happy, sad or when it is cold outside. Basically anytime is a good time for ramen. I cannot think of a time when I have turned down a bowl of ramen. Just won't do it.

As good as ramen is, it is also a big bowl of too much carb, sodium and fat. Duh, that's why it tastes so good.

Cupcakes and ramen. That's me in a nutshell. And I'm okay with that because I will always be a foodie at heart. That part is just never going to change. That's why I try to do something active everyday. And even though the cupcakes and ramen only represent a small percentage of my overall total consumption, I want to make an effort to eat healthier and eat these things occasionally as treats instead of as a regular part of my eating plan. Some day...perhaps this year, I would like to have visible abs. So for the month of January I'm not going to have any cupcakes and ramen. I'm a 'cold-turkey' kind of person. It works for me. I'm sure as the year progresses these things will find their ways back to my eating plan but I want to be more mindful about this. Let's face it, if I am traveling somewhere and see cupcakes or ramen that I haven't tried before, you can be sure that I will be having some. Note to self...everything in moderation.

Up next I'll show you more of what I AM eating these days instead of cupcakes and ramen. They say that absence makes the heart grow fonder. Not sure how I could be any more fond of cupcakes and ramen but we shall see.

Don't Know Where to Start?

2012-01-02T17:08:00.000-08:00

Are you looking for something to commit to for the next month? If you are like me and want stronger arms or just to tone up a bit then please consider giving the 100 pushups challenge or the Bodyrock 30 day challenge a try.

I've been looking around the internet these past couple of weeks for some sort of exercise program to use for toning up a bit and these two look very doable. I'm already doing a good amount of cardio in the form of running and spinning and I think that adding these two challenges into my routine will help me be better at them. I've already tried the 100 pushups challenge once and I got up to doing 53 consecutive pushups. This is impressive for me because prior to the challenge, I had very little upper body strength. I struggled really hard to do 10 proper pushups during the test phase and I couldn't do anymore after that. So you see, you don't have to be super fit to do it. You just need to be consistent.

I'm bringing this up because I may be talking about my progress with these two challenges over the next month. Plus I wanted to share the ~~pain~~ health. ;)

Resolution Fun Run 2012

2012-01-01T21:37:00.000-08:00

I don't think I have ever ran on new year's day. Staying up pass my bedtime the night before is never a good way to ensure that a morning run will occur.

This year I signed up for the Resolution Run hosted by Amanda over at Run To The Finish. When today rolled around, I had serious doubts that I would run today but then I remember what I had written on my bib...

...this!

So after lunch, I got in my car and drove to a nearby park. I didn't know how many miles I would run, so I just started running and told myself that I could stop when I got tired. It was hot as Hades out today. Hard to believe that this is winter. To be honest, it's been awhile since I've ran outside. I don't like running when it is too cold out. I just don't run well so I've been doing almost all my running on the treadmill. I've forgotten how nice it is to run outside.

Time flies when you're having fun.

Before I knew it, I had cranked out 10 miles.

And got a nice tan to boot. No, not really, it's more of a runner's tan if you know what I mean.

There are lots of birds and water fouls at this park just walking around. Okay, so there might have been a guy nearby when I snapped this photo with a very large bag of bread crumbs. I was doing some post run stretching nearby when I spotted them.

This was about as close as I felt comfortable getting to them. They were pretty big.

2012 Fitness and Personal Goals and Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T07:00:00.000-08:00

They say that the end of the world is coming. In 2012! That's like this year. Already? Wow! I haven't dined at the French Laundry yet, the end can't be near! Why even bother with anything let alone making resolutions? Well you're gonna look pretty stupid when the day comes and nothing happens and you've already quit your job, emptied your bank account, ate nothing but Twinkies all year and haven't bathe since 12/31/2011...that or the world actually comes to an end. Either way you're screwed so let's get on with the resolutions making. Chop chop!

Here are mine! I feel like this list should include things like "buying a lambo or finally putting in the biggest closet in the world in my huge mansion."

Fitness Goals:
1) Run more miles in 2012 than in 2011. I ran 1,117 miles in 2011.
2) Run a 3:40 marathon. Hefty hefty goal for me.
3) Run a 10K race. Beat PR of 50:10.
4) Run a half marathon in the 1:30s
5) Run another trail race.
6) Bike outside more
7) Attempt 100 Push program again
8) Go to yoga at least once a month

Personal Goals:
1) Stop swearing/cussing. I'm setting up a "swear jar" to remind myself of this goal.
2) Volunteer
3) Recycle more - I already practice recycling but I'll do a little more.
4) Eat less processed food
5) Find ways to stress less
6) Try to survive the end of the world! Another hefty hefty goal. I'm going to head over to my sister's. She has a zombie survival kit just like this one. Everyone should have one. Everyone. Happy New Year!!!

Source

Revisiting My 2011 New Year's Resolutions

2011-12-31T07:00:00.000-08:00

It is almost that time of year again. I'm talking about resolution making time. Last year around this time I went back to my list to check off all that I had accomplished and push out or remove all the items that were no longer relevant. It was kind of fun so I'm doing it again this year. My goal is always to check off as many items as possible. So what were my 2011 resolutions?

2011 Fitness Goals:
1) Run more miles in 2011 than in 2010. I ran 1,084 miles in 2010. That is the number I need to beat.
Accomplished! Not by a whole lot but I still did it. As of 12/30 I am at 1,117. DONE!

2) Run a sub-4 hour marathon. I am so close. I can do it!
I can proudly say that I finally did this! Yay! Actually I did this twice! DONE!

3) Sign up for a 10K race. Beat PR of 50:10. Revisiting a distance I haven't raced in a long time.
Well this goal is half done so I will need to push this one over to 2012. I did sign up for a 10K but I ran it for fun with Sister K so no new PR but it was so much fun!

4) Climb a kiddie rock wall to the top. Remember in this post when I tried to climb but only got 3 feet off the ground and got scared. Yes I am afraid of heights.
This goal is a total fail. Namely I am still afraid of heights and have not taken any steps to get over it. Pushing out to 2012.

4a) Climb a giant indoor wall or ride a hot air balloon.
Also pushing out to 2012.

5) Run another trail race.
Yay another goal completed. DONE!

2011 Personal Goals:
1) Plan 2012 European trip
This trip is currently on hold so pushing out to the distance future.

2) Organize my living space.
Work in progress! Pushing out.

3) Volunteer at least once this year.
Okay this one was another fail. Pushing out.

4) Learn some French and/or Italian.
I am removing this one for the time being but may add it back on at a later time.

Three out of a bunch isn't bad. Okay well maybe it is but who's counting? Up next are my 2012 goals and resolutions. Go big or go home I always say. No, I actually never say stuff like that and I'll probably end up going home but nothing gets me going quite like a challenge. Game on!

I'm Bringing Veggie Back

2011-12-30T21:56:00.000-08:00

Last night I went over to the new Irvine Mitsuwa to check it out and also to have dinner at the Santouka located in the food court. Despite the small size of the food court, there were a couple of tasty food stalls including Misasa, Hamada-ya bakery and this fabulous Takoyaki and Taiyaki stall called Go Squared.

I am a fan of both Takoyaki and Taiyaki. Takoyaki is a snack made from a batter with small pieces of chopped octopus in a heated circular mode. The finished product is about the size of a golf ball. I'll highlight that another time. Today I am going to talk about Taiyaki.

Taiyaki is a sweet snack made from a batter in a heated fish shaped mode and can be filled with chocolate, custard or red bean. I am a huge Taiyaki fan. I like the red bean one. I'm almost certain that these little fishes will surely derail my dieting efforts. I introduced M to them today and he instantly fell in love with the custard and chocolate ones. They are best eaten warm and freshly made. They taste like waffles, except with chocolate or custard on the inside.

This one here is filled with red bean. I think I went overboard as I had two after dinner. I love the fish shape! The tail is my favorite part to eat. I save it for last. Just a weirdo Madison thing.

I walked around the Mitsuwa market after dinner and noticed how organized, bright and nicely packaged everything was. They had a prepared food section that looked pretty good.

If I hadn't just eaten dinner, I would have taken this one home. I didn't end up buying any groceries on this trip but you can trust that I will be back very soon. Maybe even make some nice Japanese inspired meals.

**************************************************************************************************************************************

Say hello to my little friends! Seriously I need to get to know these two guys again. I've really fallen off the healthy eating wagon the second half of this year and I want to make an effort to clean up my meals.

For sure that means no more of this stuff...

So one of my resolutions for 2012, which will be posted soon, is to eat more healthy. M wanted to go out to breakfast this morning so off we went. I wanted to practice getting back into eating more healthy by actually eating healthy meals today. So normally I would have an orange juice but I decided to order this tomato juice to switch things up.

Sister K recently taught me how to use some new settings on my camera and this photo is dedicated to her. :)

So normally when I am not really paying attention to what I am eating, I would order a muffin from here (Mimi's). They have some tasty muffins. Today I decided to order something from their Lite Fare section. This here is two eggs over medium with a side of fruit and rye toast. It wasn't half bad. It's no muffin but eating all those muffins was causing me to look like a muffin.

For "linner" I had this Grilled Chicken Salad from Stonefire Grill without the cheese and with the dressing on the side. Haha, so this wasn't half bad either but it's hard to eat a salad when my dining companion is sitting right across from me having a pulled pork sandwich chased by an "everything" pizza. What a life!

I think today went well and the suffering was minimal. I'm such a food drama queen. It's going to take time for me to enjoy the taste of healthy food again after eating all that rich food and decadent desserts over the holidays but eating healthy has it's own rewards. I actually felt more energized today and this food didn't aggravate my colitis as much as the processed stuff I've been living off of recently. So look for more farmers market posts coming up in the near future when I get reacquainted with my long lost buddies the veggies!

Friday Five Favs 12/30

2011-12-30T07:00:00.000-08:00

I'm getting somewhat regular with these Friday Five Favorites postings. So these 5 things are what I'm loving this week.

1) Gummy Vitamins - don't know why I haven't tried them until now. Perhaps it was the sugar content that I was concerned about but these things make taking vitamins a boat load of fun and deliciousness!

2) Pie-In-A-Jar - this was a homemade gift from Sister K's bf and I have to say that it is one of the most unique gifts I've gotten in a long time. I really love when people make things for me because it truly is so much more meaningful. Speaking of, I have to show you these gloves that Youngest Sister K made for me, maybe next Friday. She is a really talented teenage crocheter. This pie spoke to my love of creative gifts as well as my inner foodie. Plus, it is so cute on the inside!

3) Froggy Bag Clips - so I really love these froggy bag clips. They are adorable and I had needed some so badly. Cute and functional, I love it so much!

4) The Spicy Shrimp and Squid dish at Thai Cafe in Irvine - I ordered this dish for the first time recently and am in love with it!

5) Giada's Holiday Biscottis recipe - this recipe using pistachios and cranberries was not only festive but it was pretty delicious! I am never happy with how my baked goods turn out but these I would make again.

Eye On The Prize

2011-12-27T15:07:00.000-08:00

There isn't a word to really describe how I feel after spending a couple of days at my parents' house where they fed me 3 large square meals a day with snacks in between and me not working out what-so-ever. The closest word I can think of is "poopy". Yeah I feel like poop.

I just enjoy food way too much! I will always have a weakness for overindulging on my parents' cooking because they are such amazing cooks. Not complaining! Just emphasizing my lack of self control.

I haven't gotten a decent run in since December 17. It wasn't because I was lazy. It was because I'm a procrastinator that worked too many hours the month leading up to Christmas, so I had to do all my shopping a couple of days before Christmas.

It's all over now! I'm doing a little happy dance on the inside. Good riddance, I don't have to do this again for another year.

I finally got a run in today so things are looking up. I contemplated signing up for the SoCal Half and promised myself that if I put in enough training that I could reward myself by signing up for that race. However, I feel so sluggish from just a couple of days of non-activities that I am doubting whether or not I will be able to put in a good performance at that race.

Frankly, I am a little over running a race for fun. That should be what training is for. I always feel like I use that line when I don't plan to or want to train hard. There are exceptions of course. I mean I did run Surf City this year while I was coming out of a cold for fun. I also ran the Knott's 10K with Sister K for fun. And I did run Big Sur and the Disney Half for fun so that I could take photographs along the way. But for all those other times when I said that I was running something for fun, it was mainly because I wasn't focused on training and decided to mail it in once again. I'm saying all this because 2012 is the year of no excuses...well it is for me. Unless I get sick, side-lined or if I am indeed actually running a race for enjoyment of the surroundings or running with someone.

I will be posting up my 2012 fitness and personal resolutions in a couple of days to help me focus and realize all my goals this year.

Gingerbread People

2011-12-26T12:00:00.000-08:00

I was trying to look for some photos of the last time that gingerbread man/people were made at my parents' house and apparently it was a long time ago because I cannot find any photos from within the last couple of years.

This baking project was Sister K's and here is where it all started.

Awaiting to go into the oven.

Mixing up the icing.

What a motley crew!

I helped with piping the icing. It was a lot of fun. Plus, I didn't lose my head trying to get all the lines perfect!

Happy Birthday Sister K!

2011-12-26T00:30:00.000-08:00

Holiday Biscottis and a Cup of Cheer!

2011-12-25T11:03:00.000-08:00

Every December for the past three years, I've subscribed to Food Network's 12 Days of Cookies email newsletter. For twelve continuous days in December, I would get a different cookie recipe; and for the past three years, I've wanted to at least make one of those recipes but because I go crazy when the holidays hit, I've yet to make any of those cookies.

I pretty much thought that it wasn't going to happen again this year because once again the holidays are driving me nuts and I was caught up in getting ready for Christmas. Then one day last week, I get an email from Sister K asking when we should all get together to do some baking. This was just the reminder and inspiration that I needed to go and dig up a recipe that I had socked away. So which cookie did I select for the grand honor of being my first 12 Days of Cookie experiment?

I selected Giada's Holiday Biscotti because aside from the fact that I adore biscottis, these were made with pistachios, dried cranberries AND dipped in white chocolate and covered in more pistachios! I've been carrying this recipe in my purse for the last 3 weeks and can you blame me. This cookie recipe was from Day 6 from the series this year.

Form into a long flat log and bake for forty minutes at 350.

After it comes out of the oven, let it cool for 30 minutes before slicing the log on a diagonal and baking again until golden brown.

They are good just like this enjoyed with a cup of hot tea or coffee...

...with a pup warming your lap...

...or you can dip them into some melted white chocolate and cover in some crushed pistachios! I enjoyed some on this Christmas morning and they are pretty fabulous.

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-25T00:00:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays to everyone that comes here to my humble little corner of the internet to share in my shenanigans. I hope you are spending this day surrounded by loved ones, presents, great food, abundant health and joyous laughter! Seasons Greetings!

~Madison

Workout Trainer by Skimble

2011-12-23T18:13:00.000-08:00

I was suppose to get a run in today but when I got to the gym, I was just not in the running mood. I never force myself to do something that my body isn't on board with. Never. I guess that is the secret to my continued passion for fitness.

I did get in one warm-up mile but I hopped off the treadmill after that and hopped on the Spinner bike to do an interval workout. I found this neat little free App on my iPhone last night called Workout Trainer by Skimble which is a program with a listing of tabata workouts that you can do with little to no equipment. What's neat about the App is that everything is timed for you and the audio profile will verbally guide you through the workout. It will tell you when to work hard, when to rest and it will countdown the seconds for you. I'm used to being the one that tells people what to do on the Spinner bike so it was nice not to have to think too much and just go!

I was drenched by the end of the 32 minute interval Spinner bike workout so I'm going to give it two thumbs up. It is simple too. It is best done on a Spinner or stationary bike but you could also do this outside on a bike on a level, smooth and uninterrupted terrain. I think doing this inside is probably safer and more controlled.

So you do 4 rounds of the following with a 2 minute recovery in between sets.

10 secs - Intense Effort
45 secs - Recovery
10 secs - Intense Effort
45 secs - Recovery
15 secs - Intense Effort
45 secs - Recovery
20 secs - Intense Effort
45 secs - Recovery
15 secs - Intense Effort
45 secs - Recovery
10 secs - Intense Effort
45 secs - Recovery
10 secs - Intense Effort

The 32 minutes just flew by. I did some HIIT and some Abs after this and called it a day.

Vacation Days Are Awesome!

2011-12-22T21:26:00.000-08:00

Day two of vacation started out with waking up late, again. I went to get a massage. Getting a massage during the busy holiday season is the best idea, ever. Ever!

It was extremely windy today. Car rocking windy. Naturally that meant pho for lunch. It really hit the spot.

Also, I purchased a box of "cutie" tangerines yesterday and they are really small. I don't know what I was thinking. They are too small for me.

Ended the day by having dinner with M and his parents at Cafe Hiro. Ume-Shiso Spaghetti. If you haven't had it, you are missing out. Running planned for tomorrow morning, for sure. Must.go.run. Must! If running goes well tomorrow, I am going to sign up for another race. If not, I will not sign up for another race.

Holiday Construction

2011-12-22T07:00:00.000-08:00

Last year on this date my sisters and I worked on this gingerbread house kit. I didn't have time to post about it at the time but today is as good a time as any. Looking at these photos made me realized that I fell off the baking wagon around March this year. I had challenged myself to bake something at least once a month but that only lasted until March. Oh well.

I think we picked up this kit at Michael's Arts and Craft or Trader Joe's. Can't remember now.

Everything started out okay...

...but this is harder than it looks. I had to enlist the help of Sister J to hold up the walls as I applied more icing to kept the walls up. The roof kept sliding off too. You need to stick a couple of toothpicks in there to hold it up.

Little Sister was doing all the detail work. Thank goodness because that looked tedious.

Putting snow on the roof. This made the roof even heavier. I was afraid the whole thing was going to slide down.

Sister S doing some nice detail work on the roof.

Nice, right?

Here's the finish product. I'm embarrassed to say that I did the frosting. It started melting for some reason and it was cold as heck at my parents' place!

Oh well, we had fun putting it together but we won't be getting into construction any time soon.

Sheesh The Holidays!

2011-12-21T18:26:00.000-08:00

On the first day of vacation I woke up really late. So my planned run will have to wait. Haha, I made it rhyme. Anyhow, I decided to save my energy to finish up some shopping I still had left and lots of wrapping that needed to be done.

No work means pancakes for breakfast!

Then I came here to shop. It was a madhouse. Aren't people suppose to be at work on a Wednesday? That was the sole reason I took time off work, so that I could shop in peace. I guess everyone else had the same idea. Bugger!

Fighting crowds, walking around for hours and standing in endless lines made me hungry so I went into Red Robins for a bite to eat. Believe it or not, this was my first time eating at a Red Robin. I wanted to eat badly but instead decided to have a grilled chicken salad. It wasn't half bad. I didn't really care for the iceberg lettuce but the crisp chopped apples and the candied walnuts classed this salad up a tiny bit.

The bottomless steak fries they serve here with all their burgers and sandwiches are pretty amazing!

I didn't do anything too exciting today but finishing up my Christmas shopping and getting most of the stuff wrapped is pretty exciting to me because now I get to relax tomorrow!

Really Long Weekend!

2011-12-20T22:18:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow is the start of my six day vacation! I'm so excited! To kick off my vacation I went to Kohryu for ramen. Okay who am I kidding anytime is a good time for ramen.

I even found time to bake cookie brownies! Yum!

Ten miles on the schedule for tomorrow but I'm going to try to get as many in as I can since I am on vacation and I don't want to worry too much about it. I also have a ton of gifts to wrap up and that normally takes me forever. Not looking forward to that part. Maybe some wine will make it all better.

So what's planned for my six days off? Family, shopping, wrapping, eating, running, cleaning and getting ready for the new year. :) <--- That's me being excited.

Dinner At My Sister's

2011-12-20T19:01:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago, I was visiting my sister and she cooked me dinner. What's special about this dinner was that this was the first meal she was able to cook having just bounced back from having a baby.

She made some stir-fry vegetables and her modified 3-cup chicken. She got the original recipe online somewhere but have since changed it to suit her taste. It is called 3-cup chicken because you use 1 cup each of Sesame Oil, Rice Cooking Wine and Black Soy Sauce. So that makes a whole lotta sauce. So what you can do is modify it like my sister did and combine these three items in equal parts to make just 1 cup of sauce. That is plenty of sauce by the way. It is salty so you don't need a lot unless you are cooking for an entire army.

Just chop up some chicken into bite size chunks. You can use breast or thigh meat. This here is some chicken thigh meat. Heat up some cooking oil and throw the chicken in first. When the chicken is half way cooked, throw in some chopped garlic and a couple of pieces of sliced ginger (make sure you don't finely chop the ginger so that you can take it out after the cooking, unless you really like eating ginger, not me) and saute until brown. Continue to brown the chicken and when done, pour in the 1 cup of sauce.

Let it simmer for about 15 minutes and add some chopped basil at the last five minutes of cooking. It should look like this.

Vegetable stir-fry to go with the chicken dish.

Heat up some oil, throw in some chopped garlic and saute until slightly brown and throw in all the vegetables and saute until soft. Add some oyster sauce to taste.

This is what it looks like. I am writing up the direction for this based on observation as my sister was cooking. If I missed anything, I apologize.

My sister is old "skool" so it's always white rice at her house. When I bring the brown stuff around, she kicks me out of her house. :D

High Brow

2011-12-19T17:38:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I can be very random. Today is one of those times. I feel like I should be writing about running or spinning or even some food I ate the other day but today I feel like talking about one of my secret obsessions. Yeah I have more than one. Today I'm going to talk about my eyebrows. Sometimes I obsess about my eyebrows. Sometimes=Always. I don't know why and it may be an OCD thing but it bothers me when my eyebrow hairs are not in place. Don't look at me like that I'm mostly normal. You may or may not know but I wear makeup like never. Okay, a couple times a year, like recently at my holiday parties. I really want to wear at least some but I'm tomboyish and I would rather devote my time to doing other things than putting makeup on. I pay for this by looking not so good on most days. Some days are worst than others. Anyhow, back to eyebrows. I went into a Sephora on my last trip up to San Francisco and picked up this brow kit by the queen of eyebrows herself Anastasia. She has a fancy shop in Beverly Hills that I probably can't even afford to get near so this is the closest I can get to well-manicured brows.

So the kit looks like this on the inside and comes with a stiff bristled brow brush and some stencils...

...and wax, brow powder to impart color and a brow highlighter for the area just beneath your brow hair.

So this is what it looks like. I only did my right-eye (left side) for comparison purposes. Man, my eyes are blood shot for some reason. Wish my brows looked like that all the time. This took me a while to do as I am not that skilled at putting on makeup. For those who fill in their eyebrows regularly, this will probably take 1/4 the time it took me. I selected a stencil that was about the size and arch shape of my brows and used the brush to fill it in with the brow powder. There are about 10 stencils so there is one for every shape and size. Then I tweezed all the hairs outside of the stencil area and used the wax to make all the hairs lay flat and in the direction that I wanted them to be in. Then I just touched up with some more brow powder and filled in the area underneath the brow with the matte highlighting powder. I think I may have used a bit of the shimmery highlighting powder as well but not enough to show.

I really enjoyed playing around with this kit but I'm too lazy to do this everyday but it makes my life easier for when I have to be presentable.

Christmas Parties Finale!

2011-12-17T15:55:00.000-08:00

Last night I went to my last holiday party of the season and even though it was a little cold since it was held outdoors, the food was pretty awesome.

Fire dancer!

More fake gambling.

I'm telling you, I'm getting really good at this!

It's been fun but I'm kind of glad that it is over now. I have a ton of things left to do before Christmas and I haven't gone shopping yet. Yeah I'm THAT person this year. Someone shoot me now.

Surprisingly I did manage to get myself up at a reasonable time this morning to go for a run. I had 14 miles on the schedule but who are we kidding here. I didn't get to bed until 1am last night. I struggled a bit getting started and only had 9 miles in me today. I'm happy that I got some miles in. Now I'm off to fight the crowds and hopefully return with some stuff to wrap up. How did I let the holiday run all over me again. Next year I need to make sure that I start early and this time I'm going to mean it.

Friday Five Favs (12/16)

2011-12-16T11:09:00.000-08:00

I was looking through my photos recently and noticed that it's been awhile since I've done a Friday Five Favs. At this rate, I should probably rename this to Quarterly Quality Quintettes. I made that up and it was bad but it is Friday and I got nothin'. Have to get ready in a couple of hours for holiday party number four. Should I get sloshed? Probably not a good idea since I have a long run in the morning. Don't mind me, I'm just talking to myself. Okay, let's get back to Friday five...

1) I love flowers! I started this collage at the beginning of 2011 and this is what I have now. These were either sent, given to me or that I purchased from the farmers market. Any day that I am surrounded by some flowers is a good day.

2) This is not my first pair of Injinis but I love these lightweight "no-show" ultra thin performance socks. I purchased 2 pairs recently and I always wear these on race days now.

3) I have some sun spots from running outside and I really like this Even Better lotion from Clinique that is suppose to erase spots. I don't know if it really "erases" them, more like lightly fades them. It is a slow process. Don't expect overnight results. It does lighten the spots but it takes time.

4) Pomegranates the size of my dog's head! He was weird-ed out that I was using him as a unit of measurement.

5) Fake eyelashes! My eyelashes are nonexistent so I fake it. They are a pain to put on but are dramatic when you get them on correctly. They are not for everyday unless you have a lot of time on your hands or become an expect at getting them on quickly but they are fun for parties and special occasions. I love them! Which reminds me that I have to find some to slap on for tonight. Be back tomorrow to let you know how that long run went or not...

Peppermint Themed Luncheon

2011-12-15T10:51:00.000-08:00

I went to a luncheon yesterday. It was quite a treat to sit down to a leisurely lunch on a work day. On most days I teach spin during lunch so I eat lunch on the fly. Not today. Today I dined in style! The luncheon had a peppermint theme.

The appetizer was a trio of seared scallop w/ heirloom tomato puree, spinach and candy cane beet salad, and I selected the sea bass for my main entree...and dessert!

Cute! This was a dark chocolate and peppermint torte.

One of the pastry chefs did a salt water taffy demo and made some candy cane taffy. I've never had freshly made taffy before so this was a real treat and it was delicious!

10 Delicious Things I Ate in 2011

2011-12-14T10:55:00.000-08:00

Last year I put together my first list of "10 Delicious Things I Ate in 2010" and now I present to you my 2011 list. Again in no particular order, just pure deliciousness all around! It was really hard to narrow down my list to just 10 items this year but after staring at it for a while, the choices were clear.

1) Macarons from Pacific Bakery

2) Poached Eggs and Cauliflower in Brown Butter at Boulettes Larder.

3) Crab Cakes Benedict at Mon Ami Gabi

4) Fish Trio Sampler at Suzanne's Cuisine

5) Zhong made by my mom! :d

6) Self-Served Goi Cuon lunch at my parents'. <3

7) Cupcakes from Susie Cakes in Newport Beach.

8) Jamon Iberico de bellota (hand-cut) from Barbacco in SF.

9) Almond Croissant from Layer Cake Bakery

10) Crab sandwich and Manhattan Style Clam Chowder from Ferry Plaza Seafood.

Christmas Party Three of Four

2011-12-13T10:00:00.000-08:00

Sunday after I ran the Holiday Half Marathon out in Pomona, I immediately got in my car and made the 45-minute drive back to the OC so that I could get ready for party number 3! The parties are winding down and I am almost to the finish line.

This next comment is going to make me sound like a Scrooge but I don't really care for this time of year. Everything just gets crazy! People driving fast from one store to the next trying to buy the latest crap. The stores are crowded with people who quite frankly are just rude around this time of year. I mean do we really need all this crap? Plus it is cold and I'm not a big fan of being cold. I was born in Southeast Asia and lived in California almost my entire life so anything below 50 is cold to me. I'm sure if I lived in New York my entire life I would acclimate to those temps but honestly I just don't think I would survive there. I went there a couple of years ago right around this time of year actually and I was pretty cold. I wore my ski jacket the whole time I was there. I was still cold. Alright, that's my yearly holiday rant. Let's move on.

Back to holiday parties. So holiday party number 3 was held at a venue overlooking Laguna Beach. Nice right?

The venue was built in the 1920s and filled with antique furniture and decor. I love antiques!

Casino tables as a part of the party's 1920s theme.

I dressed up as a flapper but I took off my feather headpiece just prior to taking this photo. Bad timing because that thing was really cute! [note: that's a chocolate cigar by the way. ;) ]

Edit: Found a photo later of me with the head piece on.

Strangely we were seated at the Flappers table. :)

I was so distracted that I forgot to take photos of the salad course (butter lettuce salad) and the main course (braised short ribs). I did get a photo of the second course which was a lobster risotto. This was the best dish anyways.

Dessert was served buffet style. Just the way I like it! ;)

I spent quite a bit of time here during the course of the evening. I'm starting to develop a "fake" gambling habit I think. By the time the evening came to a close, I was extremely exhausted as I had been up since 5am that morning because of the half marathon. And then there was one...

2011 Running Year in Review

2011-12-12T14:44:00.000-08:00

Last year I did a year-in-review race recap after I ran my last race and since I just ran my last race of 2011...here is a look back at 2011!

I had quite a busy race calendar this year but it wasn't by accident. I wanted to see if I could run a bunch of races in a calendar year. Turns out I can. Do I recommend it? Not whole heartedly. It took a lot of time to train, plan and travel. Not to mention the cost. Yeah, let's not mention about that. I was lucky that I had the luxury to commit as much time, energy and money to this little experiment. Running races can be an expensive hobby. Having said that, I don't regret running any of them. I had so much fun and learned a lot about myself as a runner in each one of those races. I surprised myself by PR-ing in three distances this year, the 5K, half marathon and marathon.

I started the year with the Southern California Half. It is held in early January shortly after all the holiday festivities have died down. Naturally I am a slacker over the holidays so I was really under-trained and ill prepared for this race and it showed. Even running with full effort, I clocked this race at 1:50:16.

Then I got sick around mid to late January with a bad fever that made training almost impossible. And so I went into the Surf City Half even less prepared than the first. Clocking in at a "crap-tacular" 2:01:22 but I kept the Surf City running steak alive. Four years in a row!

Then on March 20, 2011 the sky opened up and poured rain as I ran the LA Marathon. Needless to say that didn't go well (4:26:12).

After that race, I was afraid of the rain and cold like never before. Luckily Sister K and I finished up the The Coaster Run 10K before it started to rain! A big thumbs up for that.

Then I drove up to Monterey early May to run one of the most beautiful courses that I've ever ran, the Big Sur Marathon. Ran the modified out and back course in 4:19:14. Going back in 2012 to tackle Hurricane Point! Excited! Okay not really because that part is going to suck but the other parts are nice.

Then on Memorial Day weekend, I revisited a course that I hadn't ran in a couple of years and earned my current half marathon PR time of 1:44:10 at the Laguna Hills Memorial Day Half! It was a great day!

Then I was on a roll and earned my current marathon PR time of 3:50:35 at the Ojai 2 Ocean Marathon. Another great day in my running history book!

Around mid June, I ran my second trail race ever at the Billy Goat Hill Climb Half with a 2,400 ft climb! Definitely one of the harder runs I did this year. Clocked in at 2:16:47.

Then I flew up north to eat...oh and to run the San Francisco Marathon. 4:08:51

Then it was down to San Diego for America's Finest Half, revisiting a course I had not ran since 2008. Nothing spectacular happened there, except that I overslept and almost missed the start of this race. Ran the half in 1:51:25.

Then I ran my first Disney race ever at the Disneyland Half in a fairy costume! 1:51:23

Sometime around September my right knee started to bother me a bit from all the Spinning I was doing coupled with the lack of running. So I hobbled through the Long Beach Marathon in high temps and low running spirits. Clocking in at 4:26:55. That was also the weekend my beautiful niece was born so that made up for all the unpleasantness.

I did a really fun 5K around mid October and earned a new 5K PR of 23:18 at the Chapman 5K in a pretty Sparkle skirt but that was also the day that I almost fell when I accidentally stepped on a rock and twisted my ankle. The ankle is still not the same.

On Halloween weekend, I dressed up as a black cat and ran the RnR Los Angeles Half in 1:45:56.

Last marathon of the year was the Santa Barbara Marathon and I ran a 3:59:36. My second sub-4 marathon ever. I was happy with that as it was not planned.

Capped off 2011 with the Holiday Half! Clocked in at 1:47:25.

Honestly, I'm tired and am glad that it is done! I am however looking forward to my 2012 race schedule when the fun will start all over again. Run on and on!

2011 Holiday Half Marathon Race Recap

2011-12-12T10:50:00.000-08:00

Date: December 11, 2011
Location: Pomona Fairplex
Start: 8:00am
Finish: 1:47:25 (8:12 pace)
Elevation Chart:

Mile 1 - 8:17                           Mile 8 - 8:13
Mile 2 - 8:02                           Mile 9 - 8:07
Mile 3 - 8:00                           Mile 10 - 8:27
Mile 4 - 7:58                           Mile 11 - 8:35
Mile 5 - 8:06                           Mile 12 - 8:13
Mile 6 - 8:15                           Mile 13 - 7:50
Mile 7 - 8:06

5K - 26:33 (8:33 pace)
7.2 miles - 58:05 (8:04 pace)

I went into this race not really having a goal in mind. This was the last race on my calendar for the year and I honestly can say that I haven't really been training as diligently as I should due to holiday stress. All I knew was that I was going to put in a good effort. Overall, I am pretty happy with my time. As I mentioned in my previous post, this wasn't my best time but it wasn't my worse either. It is actually among one of my top times. My pace was all over the place because this course had quite a few rolling hills. Due to my poor pacing, I started to fade around miles 10 and 11. I ended up picking up some speed at miles 12 and 13 because the course flatten out a bit, it may even have been downward sloping but it was minor so it felt flat. That and I started to hear cheering which meant that the end was near.

In regards to race organization, Run Racing puts on some really good races. The Pomona Fairplex is out in the middle of nowhere but it is huge and even though you have to pay $8 for parking, there is a lot of it. This was a large SRLA (Student Run LA) event but Run Racing did an amazing job at keeping everyone organized by having a separate start time for SRLA. The half marathon started at 8:00am sharp for regular participates and 8:15am for SRLA. I was really in awe of the students who caught up with the 8am start crowd somewhere around mile 3. They are going to be future elites one day.

Fun photo op!

One of the best features about this race was race morning packet pick up. This eliminated the need to drive out to Pomona twice in one weekend. Another point goes to Run Racing! The packet pickup went smoothly with almost no lines at all when I got there around 6:45am.

The shirt is pretty cute and it came in XS.

I found these fun knee socks at the Costume Castle the day before and they were really comfortable and kept me warm.

As soon as I crossed the finish line, student volunteers wrapped me in a space blanket, put a medal around my neck, gave me some water, a banana, a box of cereal and a granola bar. They were like a well oiled machine. I had to leave the Fairplex in a hurry because I had to get ready for a party later on in the afternoon but this race was just so well organized that I was done, made the drive back to the OC from Pomona and showed by 11am. Big props to Run Racing for putting on such a well organized event. I also liked that it wasn't too big but still had all the nice perks...especially the beautiful medal!

I Stole Some Elf's Socks!

2011-12-11T11:17:00.001-08:00

It is done! 1:47:25, not my best but not my worst, so I can't complain. Gotta run, just wanted to check in to show off the sweet bling. Recap to come later. Probably tomorrow if I don't have a hangover from my party tonight.

Like my socks? I love them! They kept my calves warm this morning in the 40-something temp. I was freezing my antlers off. Okay, bye!

Christmas Party Two of Four

2011-12-10T18:22:00.001-08:00

Hello! Sorry for the lack of posting this week but work was crazy. I think the worse is over so maybe I will be able to write more often. Last night after work, I went to holiday party number two. Holiday party number two was at a friend's house. A very large house! So large they had two Christmas trees. This was one of them. I forgot to take a photo of the other one.

It was a catered event!

They even had a bartender and a holiday drink menu! This green concoction is The Grinch. I had three of them. It was a good night!

I think this one was 2 of 3. ^_^

When I walked outside later in the evening, the moon had a halo around it. I took a photo because I wasn't sure if I had one too many or maybe I took a photo because I did have one too many.

This morning, I slept in for the first time in many weeks and had waffles with PB and maple syrup.

I made myself some fried brown rice with orange chicken for lunch. I know what you're thinking. Where's the veggie? No? You weren't thinking that? Me neither!

And for dinner...spaghetti with artichoke heart tomato sauce and some leftover un-sauced orange chicken. Carbo-loading...

...for the Holiday Half Marathon tomorrow morning! It may very well be my last race of 2011. Maybe. I probably won't get a chance to post about the race until Monday as I have another holiday party to go to tomorrow. I can't wait for you to see my outfit for the party. I'm dressing up as a flapper girl. More details to come. :) If you are running this race tomorrow, see you out there!

Birthday Wishes to My Little Sister!

2011-12-05T07:00:00.000-08:00

Today is Sister S's birthday. Happy Birthday Little Sister! This is her first birthday as a new mom! She is a wonderful person, wife, daughter, mom and she has always been an amazing sister. I honestly cannot imagine what life would be like without her. She became my best friend the day she was born.

S - have a wonderful day today and always!

Happy Birthday Mama! I love you this much!

From Biking to Cupcake

2011-12-03T17:06:00.001-08:00

Well I didn't go running this morning. Believe it or not my legs have been sore since Wednesday from doing wall-balls. I did about 150 reps using a 4-pound ball and I had a hard time walking down the stairs for the next two days. I haven't ran since Monday. So today, I took my bike out of the garage for the first time in a very long time. It had cobwebs all over it and I think it needs to be oiled. It was really windy and cold today but I managed to get in 17 miles.

Biking always makes me really hungry, so when I got home I ate some leftover chicken salad that I made the other night with some chopped apples, celery, chicken, walnut and light mayo. I had not blogged about this meal because I did not have time, plus this dish is pretty self explanatory. I made this dish as a challenge from Sister K. She challenged me to turn our Thanksgiving leftover chicken breast meat into a totally different meal. Challenge accepted! I got raves from the Mister for this salad. Now it it all gone!

A couple of hours later, we went out for a proper lunch at Side Street Cafe. I ordered the Lunch Special, which is soup and half of a sandwich. The soup of the day was Split Pea. This is my first split pea soup...ever! And I loved it! Nice chunks of carrots and ham but it would have been good all on it's own. The sandwich was just okay. I went with the Club which had turkey, ham and bacon. The bacon was good but I took out the ham and turkey because the ham was cold and the shredded turkey was really dry.

And since we were in the area we stopped by Susie Cakes where their bakers were busy bringing the holidays to life. Yummy edible life!

I did something unheard of, I got a mini instead of a regular size cupcake. I'm trying to be good. This was heavenly. It is just perfection!

Christmas Party One of Four

2011-12-03T08:29:00.001-08:00

I've had a really crazy week at work so when Friday came around I was so happy. Last night was the first of some holiday parties that I will be attending this month. I needed a hair cut. I found Heather Cha. This is Heather's work. It's my hair but she did such a great job that it doesn't even look like my hair. Heather is an artist. No, really, she is. She majored in art but decided that her passion was hair. She is amazing at what she does. Go see her over at Salon Victoria in Irvine. She did not bribe me to say these things. I just know how difficult it is to find a good hairstylist so I am saving you some trouble.

Haha, company parties, they all basically look like this. I guess a lot of big dinner events look similar.

I came for the food! It was average. I had the halibut. I always have beef but decided to try something new. Let's never try something new again. Just kidding. But seriously, I didn't like the halibut. Sad. The best part of this meal was dessert. Obviously! But this was a Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart. It was awesome. Period.

My date and I in sepia. :)

And me in living color. :) I didn't have time to go and find a new dress so I wore something I already had in my closet.

One down and three more to go. Now I need to wrap this up and go out for a run! It is long run Saturday.

Battambang Seafood Restaurant - San Gabriel, CA

2011-11-27T11:17:00.001-08:00

On the eve of Sister's S's baby shower, I had taken off that Friday from work to help with the set up. We decided to get some lunch before we started with the setup. We met my brother-in-law for lunch at Battambang Restaurant, a Cambodian and Seafood restaurant. Go ahead and make fun of the name because I did for the longest time. It just sort of rolls off your tongue. I was calling it Bada Bing for a while.

I forgot to take a photo of the inside of this restaurant but it is huge! People have wedding receptions here just to give you an idea of the size. This place also has an extensive menu. It gives the Cheesecake Factory's menu a run for it's money. Just look at the drink pages alone.

Unfortunately, they were out of almost everything on that drink menu that day I was there. After asking for six other things they were out of; I finally ordered something that they did have, Pennyworth drink (rau ma). It was strangely expensive at $3 a glass since you can find it much cheaper anywhere else in this part of town.

My sister and I decided to order the Hu Tieu Trieu Chau Kho combo. She tells me that this is one of her most favorite things to eat at this place. My sister and I have very similar taste buds so I knew that I had to try it.

Pork soup that came with the dry noodle bowl. Very flavorful!

Dry noodles dressed in a soy sauce with sliced and ground pork, fish meatballs and shrimp.

Here is a better shot of the noodles. My sister was right, this was very good! She was also right about the fact that it tastes just like something our mom would make. It was such a simple dish but it tasted like home to us. So you can make fun of the name but this dish is seriously tasty!

Battambang Seafood Restaurant
1806 S San Gabriel Blvd

San Gabriel, CA 91776

(626) 307-3938

Fast Food at Home!

2011-11-25T22:32:00.001-08:00

I've been doing a lot of time at work lately and coming home late doesn't allow for much time to cook. I know I make a lot of jokes about my cooking but for the most part it has all been edible and some were even delicious. Recall when I made this frozen meal a couple of weeks ago? No? Well I don't blame you, it was pretty forgettable. On the same day that I picked up the other frozen dinner, I also picked up this P.F. Chang's Meal for 2. I was not very hopeful after my experience with that other package but it was sitting in my freezer one day when I had no idea what to make for dinner.

This is the content of the package. There are frozen little squares of sauce mixed in with the frozen broccoli and beef. I chopped up some baby bok choy to "beef" up the veggie content of this meal.

I served it over brown rice and it was actually pretty good. Dinner is served!

Dinner was so quick to make that I had time to make dessert. I got this box of Duncan Hines Triple Chocolate Cake in my Foodbuzz swag bag.

This cake was also really simple to throw together. I just added some eggs and oil to the mix in the box.

Dollops of fudge makes this cake interesting!

And by interesting...I mean bowl lickin' good!

Fresh out of the oven.

Care for a slice?

The cake was really moist and the fudge center layer was really rich and full of chocolate flavor. I have to admit that this is not my favorite out-of-the box cake mix but it was fun to make and if you like chocolate you might like this cake.

The Black Friday 13.1 Miles Run

2011-11-25T20:42:00.001-08:00

I slept in this morning.
I ate too much yesterday.
I ran a half marathon on the treadmill to make up for yesterday.
I went to see Breaking Dawn.
I enjoyed it...very much! Don't judge me.
I spent time with my pup and my honey, represented here by a piggy and an angry bird. Just kidding.

I did not go shopping.
I had a wonderful day today! Happy Black Friday!

Thankful!

2011-11-24T23:20:00.001-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I have so much to be thankful for! I am truly blessed and grateful! Hope everyone had a nice meal today. I know I did!

I made the annual Double Layer Pumpkin Pie for dessert.

My parents made the rest! They made ribs this year and Sister J made a vegan green bean casserole, new additions to the holiday menu. It was all so good!

I ate way more than what is shown here. My hands got dirty from eating ribs so I was not able to take any more photos after that.

Happy 1st Thanksgiving to my little niece! She is growing so fast. I guess it has been a couple of days since I last held her because she surprised me today when she started to wiggle her legs. I guess she recently started wiggling, cooing, turning her head and smiling. It is going to be a year full of many wonderful firsts for her.

Red Egg and Ginger Party

2011-11-20T10:55:00.001-08:00

It was my niece's one month celebration yesterday. It's a Chinese thing. Maybe other cultures do a similar thing but in this instance I'm referring to the Chinese tradition. Traditionally it is held one month from the date of birth but due to scheduling conflicts, she is already 6 weeks old. Luckily it is more flexible these days and people celebrate this occasion anywhere from one to three months after the baby is born. You can read more about the significance of the one month baby celebration here. Basically, back in the days in China, the infant mortality rate was high because of the lack of modern medicine. An infant who survives the one month period was believed to have made it pass the precarious stages. A call for celebration!

Chinese people still carry on this tradition even today here in the U.S. where the infant mortality rate is low. This celebration now serves as a way to introduce the baby and mother back into the world after recovering from birth for a month. If you have ever seen the movie The Joy Luck Club, there is a scene in the movie of a Red Egg Celebration.

Here's the sleeping beauty!

Here's the feast! Some of these dishes were selected for symbolic reasons. Yes, meaningful and delicious! That's how we roll. The red eggs above represents fertility and the color red stands for happiness.

The whole steamed fish stands for prosperity, while the Peking duck stands for fidelity. All the dishes red in coloring represents happiness. The lobster dish is a dragon food. Normally chicken is also served in it's whole form. The chicken is a representation of a phoenix food. The lobster and chicken represents the unity of dragon and phoenix, a symbol of a happy marriage. Serving the chicken whole stands for the unity of the family. I'm not an expert by any means. I just came for the food. Just kidding. Maybe.

Happy One Month to my beautiful niece! <3

A 10 Mile Run

2011-11-20T08:58:00.001-08:00

This week I started my training cycle for the Los Angeles Marathon coming up on March 18, 2012. I know that seems like ages away but I really want to improve my running base pace for that race and that means that I am planning on starting from scratch and building up. I am just coming off of a race recently so I have that base to build up from. I think I mentioned that I am not signed up for too many marathons next year because I want to focus more on improving my half marathon finish time and also to work on my marathon race pace. I guess next year is the year of 'less is more' and hopefully "more" means faster.

I went on my first official long run for Operation Run Faster (that's what I'm calling this training cycle). I will be logging my miles and pace more diligently to monitor my progress. Here are the stats from that 10 miler. Not entirely consistent but not that much off base either. I think my current race pace is a 9 minute mile and I want to make that number go down. I will use the next couple of weeks to assess my abilities and see what a realistic goal will be for me.

Mile 1 - 9:12                          Mile 6 - 9:04
Mile 2 - 8:42                          Mile 7 - 8:54
Mile 3 - 8:40                          Mile 8 - 9:13
Mile 4 - 9:14                          Mile 9 - 8:31
Mile 5 - 9:39                          Mile 10 - 8:31

This will be my bible for the next couple of months. I have a lot of work to do! Good thing I like to run.

Olio Pizzeria Enoteca and Bar - Santa Barbara, CA

2011-11-18T21:20:00.001-08:00

One week ago today I was up in Santa Barbara and it was a rainy night. It was the night before the Santa Barbara Marathon and I was very concerned about the weather the next day. At the time, I wasn't sure if I should even carbo load or not. I was going to bail on the race if the weather was bad.

In the end, I still had to have dinner so we drove over to State Street to find a restaurant that was not already packed solid. It was dinner time and there were lots of runners in town. Not to mention all the naval personnel on leave due to Veteran's Day. There was a 45 minute to 1 hour wait everywhere we checked and it was raining pretty hard outside.

We had originally wanted to eat at Olio e Limone, which was a fancier restaurant next door but they were booked up until 8:45pm. We ended up running next door to Olio Pizzeria and waited for 20 minutes before we were seated at the bar. It was the best seat in the house. I got to see them make my pizza up close and personal.

This is a wood-gas hybrid oven they used to bake the pizzas. They were turning out pizzas at the speed of light.

This is the Boscaiola, a sausage and mushroom pizza. This came out ten minutes after we ordered it. Of course I could not have any of this because of the cheese but...

...look! They make a plain baked pizza crust called Pane Alle Erbe & Sale Di Salina, fresh baked with herbs, garlic and sea salt. This is about the best pizza bread I've ever had!

This is the Insalada Di Polipo, an Octopus ceviche-like dish with celery and parsley vinaigrette. It is a bit heavier than ceviche because it is heavier on the olive oil as opposed to the lime juice. Really tasty!

This is the Gamberetti al Aglio e Olio Piccante, a garlic-y shrimp dish in a spicy chili oil covered by a thin layer of thinly sliced potato rounds, in an au gratin style but without the butter and cream sauce I suppose.

So good! Want a taste?

Hello cheese and salami case!

Then I saw what they did with the stuff in the case, this is the Salumi e Formaggi Assortiti, which is an assortment of meats and cheeses of the chef's choosing. Um, I'm totally getting that next time.

Haha, he posed with it for me because I was taking so many photos at the bar.

I was already really full by this point and luckily they let me do a half order of assorted biscottis with a nice cup of tea. I'm so glad I tried this because these were amazing! One was crunchy, one was chewy and one was cakey. A perfect ending to a delicious meal.

I was a happy girl!

Olio Pizzeria Enoteca and Bar
11 W. Victoria Street, Suite 21
Santa Barbara, CA
(805) 899-2699

New Shoes: Adidas Supernova Sequence 4

2011-11-16T16:12:00.001-08:00

There are a few things in life that still makes me giddy like a little kid. Opening up a fresh jar of peanut butter comes to mind but very close in second is getting my hands on a new pair of running shoes. It's obvious where my priorities are.

So meet my new Adidas Supernova Sequence 4. I don't know why it has such a long name. They should just call it the Adidas SS4. Anyhow, this is my 100th pair of Adidas running shoes. Okay, not that many but close. I just keep buying them year after year. I use to be a huge Brooks fan but switched over to Adidas a couple of years ago at the recommendation of one Shoe Dog at RoadRunner Sports. Oh and by the way, if you ever need a new pair of running shoes 'quick-style' like I did and you need it the very next day, RoadRunner will take care of that...for free! I love them...RoadRunner and my new shoes!

I really like the new colors. I seem to remember that when I first started buying this model that it had pink stripes, then aqua, then blue and now it is purple and the shoe color went from white to grey. I read in Runner's World that this model is a little bit heavier than the 3s but it is minor. The weight of these shoes go up and down, pretty much like my weight but it all balances out in the end. :) Oh and these are stability shoes by the way because I pronate.

Wanchai Ferry Frozen Meals for Two

2011-11-15T16:43:00.001-08:00

I was lazier this week than last because instead of cooking my semi-decent dinners, I actually decided to try this bag of Wanchai Ferry Complete Meal for Two. Have you seen those commercials on TV for these meals? The one with mooching panda mascot that does nothing all day but watch your TV and then shares your dinner with you when you cook it. Haven't seen it? You're not missing out. Just to be clear, I am not being paid to write this review, in fact I actually paid for this out of pocket. Yes I AM that lazy.

This is what is inside the bag when you open it: a bag of precooked rice, a bag of orange chicken and a pouch of orange sauce.

And this little bit of frozen veggies at the very bottom of the bag. There was such a small amount that I had to add...

...this other bag of frozen veggies to bulk it up. Plus, that pouch of sauce would have overwhelmed this dish had I not added this extra bag of veggies.

I did decide to cook my own brown rice to go with this dish instead of using the precooked white rice that came with it. I'll save that bag of rice for another time. I'm pretty sure there will come a time when that little bag of rice will come in handy. Like if I ever get snowed in.

So this is what it looks like with the addition of an extra bag of frozen veggies and freshly cooked brown rice. It made enough for two adult size dinners and 2 servings to take for lunch. Not mind blowing but not bad either, as in I would maybe buy this again. Maybe.

2011 Santa Barbara International Marathon Recap

2011-11-12T18:15:00.000-08:00

Date: November 12, 2011
Location: Goleta to Santa Barbara, CA
Start: 7:15am
Finish: 3:59:36

Last marathon of 2011, phew! Whatever possessed me to sign up for 6 marathons this year is out of my system now. It was fun but let's never do that again. Don't get me wrong, marathons are great and I intend to continue to run them, just at a more sane quantity.

I headed up to Santa Barbara on Friday morning to get this last show on the road. I got into town around mid afternoon. The sky was gloomy. It took me so long to make it into town because we had made a quick stop at the Camarillo Outlets and also got some lunch at a Mexican restaurant in Ventura. I headed straight to the expo once I arrived in Santa Barbara which was located in a building at the Earl Warren Showgrounds.

The expo itself was pretty small. I got there around 2:30pm to pick up my packet and they had ran out of small race shirts and all the samples were gone. I don't really care about the samples but WTF?!? How does that even happen? I requested for a small shirt, why isn't there one waiting for me? Did you give it to someone else who had not ordered one? Stupid! I hate when this happens. There was nothing but flyers, a wet nap, small tube of Aquaphor and a sample of Biofreeze in the goodie bag. The race shirt would have been nice had I gotten it in my size as it was an Adidas shirt (photo forth coming).

After leaving the expo, we headed to our hotel to check in. It started to rain a bit and by the time we decided to head out for dinner, it was pouring! All the restaurants on State Street were packed despite the rain. What with all the runners and naval personnel on leave because of Veteran's Day. We went to dinner at this really awesome pizzeria that I will post about soon. The honey really liked it.

Look at this beautiful sky at 6:30am Saturday morning, 45 minutes before the start of the marathon. It was pouring rain the night before. I was a bit concerned about race morning conditions to say the least. I told myself that if it was going to pour rain that I was probably going to bail on the race because there was no way that I was going to run in rain again. It turned out to be a beautiful day for running.

I'm glad that I ditched my raincoat before I headed to the start line because it was not needed.

The modest starting line in the parking lot of Dos Pueblos high school. They had opened up the gym so that runners could keep warm. Real restrooms located inside the gym as well as 185 porta potties outside. Virtually no lines!

This race was relatively small even with a marathon, half marathon and relay event going on. So small that this was the sole wheelchair participant.

I didn't have a goal for this race except to run fast enough to get back to my hotel in time so that I could take a shower before making the long drive back to the OC. It was my last marathon of the year and honestly I just wanted to finish in a decent time. I was trying to maintain a steady 9 minute mile the whole way and for the most part I was successful. I followed behind this one guy for many miles as he was running a perfect 9 min/mile.

This race was mentally difficult for me as it was not very exciting and since it is relatively new there were not too many spectators out but the ones that were out were amazing cheerleaders. Lots of water and GU stations with some great volunteers manning them. This course reminded me a lot of the Ojai Marathon that I ran earlier this year. Strange feeling of deja vu today for me.

This course consisted of lots of rolling hills and a half mile climb shortly after mile 23. That mile 23 hill was pretty demotivating. I started out running up but decided that it was not worth it to waste my energy. As soon as I got to a flatter part near the top of that hill, I started to run...fast, in order to make up the time I lost walking up that hill. Hill at mile 23=cruel. Reminded me of the hills at the end of the Malibu Marathon, also very cruel.

Some head wind the last couple of miles made it not very pleasant. I started singing to myself out-loud like a weirdo to pump myself up.

The last mile along the ocean was gorgeous! Right before I entered the finish line chute in Playa Field at the college, I saw the most beautiful view of the ocean with naval ships parked in a row. I mustered what little energy I had left and started running for the finish line.

I rounded the corner and suddenly I see my honey on the right hand side telling me to sprint for it and then the announcer said something about 30 seconds left for a sub four hour marathon so I sprinted as hard as I could and made it in the nick of time. Phew!

Oh and I did get my shower in thanks in part to my honey picking me up at the finish line and zipping me back to our hotel room which was located half a mile away. Haha. He didn't know the finish line was so close to our hotel. But he is *the* best race chauffeur...like ever! <3

Well I did it, I finished all 6 marathons that I signed up for this year. I'm happy with my performance today. It was a nice way to close out my 2011 marathon race schedule. I am not planning to run this many marathon next year. I want to concentrate on improving my half marathon time. I'm very excited about my 2012 race line up. Well I'm off to relax a bit and reflect on my day.

Foodbuzz Content Session - Part 2

2011-11-09T17:46:00.000-08:00

Okay, final post on Foodbuzz, I promise!

So after the Featured Panel Discussion, we broke for sessions. I signed up for the DSLR-Free Zone lecture and stayed around for the Effective Social Networking even though I had not originally signed up for it. It was worth my time to hear what they had to say.

The DSLR-Free Zone lecture was presented by Angi Chau (Rice and Wheat), Chuck Lai (Foodgawker) and Greg Henry (Sippity Sup). They are amazing bloggers and they do it without the use of a DSLR, which is fabulous because I don't have one. I'm so sorry for the foggy photo. They all deserved to be seen in crystal clear images. They offered up some of the most useful photography tips for food images!

Greg is a professional celebrity photographer by trade but he uses a point-and-shoot for all the images on his food blog. This boggles my mind! Here are some of his tips that I was able to jot down on how to have drool worth food photos using a point-and-shoot.
     1) Simplify your image by removing clutter and unnecessary object out of the way. Don't ask your
         point-and shoot to do more than it is capable of doing.
     2) Narrate - your image should tell a story. Use props and color palette only if it helps with the flow of
         the story.
     3) Compose - Take time to set the stage for your food/plating. Use a "stand-in" to adjust for angle and
          lighting so that when your food is ready to plate, the image will already be shoot ready.
   4) Refine - edit/chop image in a way to help tell the story.

Angi who blogs over at Rice and Wheat talked about using a Micro Four Third format. A Micro four third camera is mirrorless, has a digital screen instead of a viewfinder and there are currently only 8 manufactures that produces these cameras.
   Pros - closer in size to a point-and-shoot than a DSLR, electronic viewfinder, fewer moving parts,
   deeper depth of field for equivalent aperture.
     Cons - Small sensor, no optical viewfinder, auto focus is slower than DSLRs, fewer lens choices,
     deeper field, you need to walk up close to the image, produces "noisy" images in low lighting.

Chuck blogs using images solely from his iPhone (by using his Instagram App). He says that the best camera you can own is the one that is always with you. Makes sense! He also says that he likes to take pictures with his iPhone because it is more discrete. Here are some tips from Chuck on how to make your Instagram images look their best.
     1) Good lighting - when you first walk into a room/restaurant, evaluate the setting and identify the
          light source and pick your seating according to the direction of the light.
     2) Prepare your composition - clear the table around your image, compose the shot, capture the dish
         from multiply angles, take the photos quickly as not to "weird out" the other diners.
     3) Post process - make adjustments in photo editing software and crop in closer.
     4) Low/Bad Lighting - bring your own light source (LED light).

Finally, Irvin Lin (Eat the Love) and Stella Parks (BraveTart) spoke about Effective Social Networking! Irvin is very upbeat and friendly and Stella, well she is a CIA trained pastry chef! I know, right? This presentation was very interesting to me because I am shy in-person and socializing online is like a dream come true. I can use all the tips I can get. Irvin and Stella both emphasized that you should use social media to increase your readership not just your hits. They said it was important to get to know your readers and develop a connection with them for long term success.

Some tips that they gave on how to effectively use social media:
     1) Be yourself - seems like a no brain-er but apparently there are a lot of fakers out there or else why
         would they keep reiterating this point. :)
     2) Don't keep retweeting about your new blog post. It may cause some people to unfollow you. If you
         do retweet about new blog postings, do it creatively.
     3) Klout, Facebook and Google+ are other good social media platforms to be involved with.

Okay, that's all I have. Well that's all I have time for this. And that is the end of my Foodbuzz posting.

I am on my way out to Santa Barbara this weekend to run a marathon. Pray to the weather gods for me that it doesn't rain...too much! Have an awesome weekend!

The Way To My Man's Heart

2011-11-09T15:19:00.000-08:00

If you read this blog with any sort of regularity, you will know that I am not the world's best cook. Not even close. I always thought this was strange because my parents are amazing cooks. They rarely go out to eat because they can particularly make every single one of their favorite dishes at home. They only go out or get take out when they are too busy or want to try something new. I wish some of that skill would have gotten transferred to me at birth but I don't think it did.

Last night on the way home from work, I asked my man what he wanted for dinner and as always he never has a clue. Want to know something strange? He actually prefers my cooking over going out to eat. This I will never understand. But the fact that he would rather eat something I cooked for him than something someone else cooked makes me feel like the best cook in the world.

So I made a simple shrimp noodle stir-fry last night. Start with sauteing some veggies over a hot pan.

De-shell, clean and butterfly the shrimp. Then put them in a bowl and mix together with some oil, red pepper flakes and salt/pepper. In a separate pan, also very hot, saute the shrimp until brown. Make sure not to over cook them. These cooked up quick since they were on the small side.

The noodles I used are made from a type of vegetable. I will do a separate post about these noodles soon. I didn't use this exact bag. I used one that was a dry yaki-soba type package.

This is the final product. I was told that I am a great cook! I'm sure you know by who. :)

Foodbuzz Gala Dinner

2011-11-08T22:00:00.000-08:00

The Gala Dinner was hosted at the Grand Hyatt Ballroom and sponsored by Alexia. This pretty light fixture hung above the escalator that led us down to the lower level to the reception area.

Open bar...yes please!

Appetizers courtesy of Alexia! I like french fries, don't get me wrong, plus these are actually baked and not fried but I would have liked something else along with the fries. Something to break up all the potato. Why so much fries, well these are blogger recipes that we were asked to sample and vote on. Okay, it's a tough job but someone has to do it.

The stage was set for the special guest!

Yum!

Well hello again Tyler Florence! Whatcha cookin'?

Delicious juicy pork chops you say. How did you know the key to my heart is through my stomach? I think someone needs to quickly invent smell-o-vision because it smelled amazing inside that ballroom during the cooking demo.

Pre-dinner appetizers...you know in case you still had space in your stomach after all that french fries.

This Bibb lettuce salad was so good! So good! The lemony bleu cheese dressing was heavenly!

Things started to head south after the salad course. The Surf and Turf dinner was meh! Meh=uninspired. I use that word a lot...for me it means when a dish is not very creative.

Dessert trio - I was not impressed and I love dessert.

Look how much was still on the plate after I was finished eating. This is a rare scene.

Foodbuzz Taste Pavilion (aka Day of Gluttony)

2011-11-08T16:35:00.000-08:00

I'm going to talk about the Foodbuzz Taste Pavillion today because I have way too much notes from the second part of my Content Session post so it will take some time for me to type it up. But here is some food eye-candy. So after the Content Sessions, Foodbuzz had buses take us over to the Metreon for the Taste Pavilion.

The Metreon is a movie theater/shopping/eating complex!

Check out the view from the 4th floor of the Metreon!

Okay, forget about the view. Check out the food!

And more food!

And my favorite category of food...DESSERT!

Need something to wash all that food down!

These heat and serve ciabatta rolls from Alexia frozen food products were surprisingly delicious. I would serve this at home. I would probably eat the entire batch myself so I'd give everyone else a one minute headstart.

You know what else Alexia had? Chef Tyler Florence! Yeah Alexia has everything a girl needs! I've been watching Tyler on the Food Network for many years now and it was such a great opportunity to get to meet him in person. He was so nice. He told me that he almost named his daughter Madison. It was their second choice. I tell this story to anyone who will listen to it. Want to hear it again?

I only have one plate shot for you but just multiply this plate by about a hundred and you get the idea. This plate of seafood inspired delights was provided by Alaska Seafood. Out of everything I ate at the Taste Pavilion, this stood out in my mind. So good!

Mission Minis Cupcakes. You know I had a bunch of these babies as cupcakes are near and dear to my heart but surprisingly they were not as great as they look. I hate to diss a cupcake but these were bland and uninspired.

Needless to say that after this three hour eating fest, I was ready to collapse into my bed! And I did, I almost missed the Gala Dinner due to my food coma.

Foodbuzz Content Discussion

2011-11-07T22:04:00.000-08:00

Look at this road construction mess near my hotel that I had to maneuver through to get to the Foodbuzz sessions on Saturday morning. I'm so proud of me. Not only did I use the BART like a champ in SF but...

...I also learned how to use the MUNI. This is big for me because I drive everywhere!

I even made it there with time to spare.

Foodbuzz advertised this as a "light" breakfast but look at this spread.

This was the panel for the featured discussion (Taking Your Blog to the Next Level). They gave lots of good advice on how to get your blog "popular". Sounded like a lot of work to me and I already have a full time job. But here is a bullet point list of what they talked about.

       - Develop your own voice and don't try to mimic anyone else as it will be transparent. Be unique and
          put your own spin on it.
       - If you love what you do, you will spend more time on it and it will show. Be passionate about your
          subject matter.
       - Always be yourself.
       - Regarding photos: use natural lighting when possible, Adobe lightroom is a good photo editing
         software, use props to enhance your food photos but only if it helps to tell a story not just as
         "decor".
       - Share stories to engage and create a connection with your readers.
       - Be active on social media resources such as Twitter/Facebook.
       - It takes a lot of time spent and hard work to create a post that looks effortless.

As I said, I already have a job and this is about the extent of how much time I can dump into this hobby. Unless Nike wants to sponsor me! I'm currently a free agent. :)

I met Mama Pea! She is a lovely person and so enviously tall! She squatted down so that I didn't look like such a dwarf next to her.

Mama Pea hand carried her famous dough balls to the session and I had the good fortune of snagging one. Yum!

Next up, what I learned from the DSLR-Free Zone and Effective Social Networking sessions.

Foodbuzz Farewell Brunch

2011-11-06T21:19:00.000-08:00

I left the gala dinner early last night because I am just not a hearty traveler and was already really sleepy by the time 9pm rolled around. Let's just say that I got a lot of sleep last night with the addition of an extra hour thanks to the time change.

I woke up this morning feeling refreshed and hungry. Definitely hungry. I took the BART to Perry's on the Embarcadero for the Foodbuzz Farewell Brunch.

The brunch was sponsored by Godiva.

Mimosas and bloody marys were made to order.

Godiva coffee!

And the food! Oh the food. So much food!

Plate #1

Plate #2

Now I need to go and run 1000 miles to burn off all the calories I consumed this weekend. Wow Foodbuzz you sure know how to throw a shindig! I got some great blogging tips and had some tasty food! I took a bunch of notes during yesterday's sessions that I will type up in the next few days. So happy to be back home and sleeping in my own bed tonight.

Foodbuzz Welcome Reception & Awards Dinner

2011-11-04T23:16:00.000-07:00

I'm going to make this quick because if I don't post this up now, I'm probably never going to get to it. Plus, I am really sleepy after eating all that delicious food at the Foodbuzz Welcome Reception and Awards Dinner. Get this...I didn't win any awards, shocking right? I came for the food anyways and it was all good!

Some bad photos are about to follow due to very low lighting in certain parts of the Terra Gallery. Basically just about any where I happened to be when I want to take a photo it seems.

Bloggers doing what they do best, networking. I am terribly shy so this was a nightmare for me. I guess I was suppose to come prepare with some blog business cards to hand out. I didn't have any. It was a travesty! Although I did meet some very nice people here and found some new blogs to read.

And of course the food kept me company. Because you know, they don't judge. This spread was sponsored by Sabra!

So this was plate one of seven. What? I eat when I am nervous. Thank goodness it was mostly healthy.

Later we all headed upstairs for a buffet style dinner. These were winning recipes submitted by bloggers for a Foodbuzz contest. I had a piece of chicken (upper left-hand corner of photo) and it was good. A bit undercooked but good.

Small plate action station consisting of a pork belly dish and a seared scallop dish. They were both outstanding. I especially enjoyed the seared scallops served with mashed potatoes, roasted cauliflower and sliced green grapes. I took a bite with all the elements of the dish and it worked well together. I might try to replicate this at home.

More amazing food sponsored by Electrolux. The photo in the center are salt cod cakes and they were so crispy.

So I had already eaten too much by the time they started setting up the dessert buffet but I just could not say no to dessert. I mean how could I, just look at it!

So my photos are terrible because well first I have a point and shoot and second this was my light source.

There was so much food and eating going on that you almost forget that this is a gallery with pretty art on display. This one caught my eye.

Hosted bar!

Deanna Brown, CEO of Federated Media started up the award ceremony. I didn't hear half of what she was saying because the mic was either on too low or people in the room were just talking too loud over her.

Jen Che, winner of last year's Project Food Blog Contest. She was telling a nice story about how she was donating the money she won from the contest to a charity but I only heard half of that story as well since people in the audience were talking even louder amongst themselves at this point, at least where I was sitting. It's a shame because she was actually doing something nice for her community but half the people there weren't even paying attention.

Wow, who's plate is this? What a pig!

Fine, it may have been mine.

The line for the dessert buffet was crazy long at one point.

Dessert made by Sabra...hmm, could it have hummus in it? Don't know but it was not tasty.

Found Sister J in the crowd downstairs towards the end of reception so we sat next to each other at dinner. Here she is enjoying a watermelon flavored beer.

A nice warm cup of tea to put an end to an evening of over indulgence. If only I was running a marathon tomorrow to burn off all the calories I stuffed in my face today. I'll be good when I get home. Promise. Good night!

Checking Into SF

2011-11-04T14:04:00.000-07:00

I was going to start this post by saying that I woke up at the butt crack of dawn to catch my flight to San Francisco this morning but I actually had to get to the airport before the butt crack of dawn. I was so tired! Plus it was doing this outside...

...but it was beautiful in SF when I arrived. This was the first thing I saw when I emerged from the BART. I am so happy that I learned to use the BART the last time I was here with Sister K for the SF Marathon. It is so convenient! I went to my hotel to drop off my luggage because it was too early to check in and headed to Union Square to do some shopping. Weird story but this morning while I was trying on some clothes inside one of the Niketown fitting room, they suddenly had to evacuate the building so I quickly had to put my clothes back on and rush out. I didn't end up going back inside since I had other things to do so I will just have to go back later.

By the time I finally arrived at the Ferry Building, I was really hungry. I had walked 2 BART stops which took about 30 minutes.

After walking around the Ferry Building for a couple of minutes, I decided to have lunch here...

I was in a seafood kind of mood so I decided on the half soup, half sandwich combo.

Manhattan-style clam chowder with Massachusetts clams. I don't normally eat clam chowder because I am lactose intolerant and there is usually cream in it but this one was purely tomato based with tender pieces of clams. It was warm, delicious and went perfectly with my sandwich.

Crab meat sandwich with a side of mixed green salad. Wow, the crab meat was so fresh! Outstanding sandwich! So much so that I need to make sure that I come back here one more time before I leave town.

Beautiful fall colors in the way of these gorgeous melons inside the Ferry Building. I still love that place!

Then I headed to the Hyatt to check in for the Foodbuzz event.

I am not staying at the Hyatt because I found a more affordable hotel nearby and it is great. I will write a review when I get back. I am sitting on this bed right now eating some Godiva chocolates. Yeah sometimes life is great!

I got this cute tote bag stuffed with goodies and some fun gadgets.

Alright, gotta run. I have to get ready for tonight!

All Roads Lead to San Francisco

2011-11-03T21:40:00.000-07:00

I'm all packed up and ready to go! I was just there a couple of months ago but San Francisco here I come...again. To be continue...

Toshi Sushi - Little Toyko (Downtown Los Angeles)

2011-11-02T07:00:00.000-07:00

If you are ever in Little Tokyo near downtown LA and you find yourself waiting around for a table at Daikokuya...

...don't bother standing in line for another minute. Just walk down the street a couple of steps to Toshi Sushi...

...for some of the freshest sushi this side of town. Unless you like standing in line or have a massive ramen craving which I totally understand. The ramen craving part not the standing in line part.

It's very zen inside!

The service was very good!

We all ordered iced green tea. Yes it is as refreshing as it looks.

We noticed that they had manipulated the straw protector into some decorative design. How creative! Sometimes it is the little things that makes a place stand out.

A simple salad that I actually ate. I don't normally eat the complimentary salads at Japanese restaurants because they are always so bland and plain but this one was green, colorful and fresh.

Sister S ordered the teriyaki chicken bento lunch because she was still pregnant at the time and could not eat seafood.

Ume/cucumber cut roll. If you like crunchy and salty, this is for you. I loved this!

Sushi chef hard at work preparing our lunches. We walked in just as they were opening shop so we were their first customers of the day.

The brother-in-law ordered the the sashimi plate. I believe this came with a bowl of steamed white rice on the side. Maybe not. I cannot remember. The fish is amazingly fresh here!

Raw squid that came with the BIL's sashimi order. I could not bring myself to try this. Could not!

I ordered the regular chirashi bowl and it was about the most delicious chirashi bowl I've ever had. It was fresh and there was a little bit of almost everything in the fish case. Everything a chirashi bowl should be and more. You really need to try this!

Toshi Sushi
359 E 1st St
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 680-4166

Holiday Fitness Challenges

2011-11-01T16:27:00.000-07:00

I am participating in the following challenges over the holiday period in order to help me stick to my goals. I don't have a motivation problem but this just makes it more interesting.

If you are into running (walking and wheel chair mileages count too), then head over to RunEatRepeat and sign up for the annual Pile On The Miles Challenge. It started today 11/1 and will run until 11/23.

Then on 11/19, RunToFinish is once again hosting the annual Holiday Bootie Buster Challenge where anything active and healthy will score you some points.

I am doing a similar thing with my Spin class in which I will be teaching a class everyday from 11/1-11/23, except for weekends and 2 Fridays when I will be out of town. We are working on maintaining our fitness level up til Thanksgiving and then we plan to get right back into it come December so that we are ready for any holiday parties that come our way. Basically our ultimate goal is to workout consistently throughout the holiday season so that come January 1, we will have one less thing to resolve.

Finally, I decided to give the 100 push up Challenge another go! Only because I need to work on my upper body strength. My last attempt yielded 56/100 push ups. No sign up is required and you go at your own pace.

POTM and HBBC will be handing out prizes to participates based either on participation or total points scored. But no matter which one of these you decide to participate in, the ultimate prize will be your health and fitness!

Anime Halloween 2011

2011-10-31T07:00:00.000-07:00

We had a pretty low key Halloween party this year, mainly because I had stupidly signed up for a half marathon the next morning and because I am not as good as my sister at organizing these events, plus the baby is a light sleeper and kept my sister pretty busy as of late and she has always been the mastermind behind all these Halloween parties. Plus I ran into a snag with my costume this year. :(

P.S. This pumpkin was carved by this sister.

I was suppose to dress up as Shampoo from Ranma 1/2 but at last it was not meant to be. Well I did manage to scrap something together at the last minute to savage my costume but it was far fetched. I had ordered some wigs and hair pieces from Hello Cosplay (an online anime costume shop) many weeks ago in hopes of getting it shipped from China in time for Halloween. The wigs had to be styled, they were not pre-styled. Apparently if you want anything from this website delivered to you in a timely manner you better order it more than a month in advance. Like two months! That's just insane. Three weeks after I placed the order, I emailed them to check when I could be expecting my order and it was at that time that they shipped it out! WTF?!? Oh another thing, there is no phone number on their site so you cannot talk to a live person. Basically, they had forgotten to send my order out until I emailed them and then instead of asking if I still needed the wigs since my party was about to come and go, they quickly sent my order out on the sly and quickly sent me a tracking number. Again WTF?!? I don't need it anymore because the party has come and gone! Baka!!!

So I had to use my own hair, which isn't blue/purple and looks nothing like the character I was suppose to dress up as. :(

At least the food was good!

The brother-in-law's famous wings! Yeah they are famous! In these parts anyways.

Group photo time! We are so spread out. Group photo fail. Happy Halloween!

2011 Rock n Roll Los Angeles Half Marathon Recap

2011-10-30T15:59:00.000-07:00

Date: October 30, 2011
Location: L.A. Live
Start: 7:30am
Finish: 1:45:56
Elevation:

You know I actually can't remember how or why I ended up signing up for this race. There was probably some sort of discount involved. You know how I like a deal. I've been so busy lately that this race just sort of sneaked up on me.

It's been awhile since I've been to the LA Convention Center.

I just wanted to quickly get in and out.

Except after I picked up my race bib, I started looking around and did some shopping. Rock n Roll sure does knows how to put together a good line-up of vendors.

As I was on my way out, I noticed Kara Goucher sitting at the Nutrilite booth and there was no line so I went over to say hello to her. We chatted a bit and she signed a postcard for me. She was really nice and personable. Good luck at the Olympic trials in January, Kara!

After that I was on my way out again and noticed that Josh Cox and Deena Kaster was about to take the stage for a Q&A session. So I grabbed a front row seat and listened as these amazing athletes talked about racing tips and strategies. Josh said something during the session that really spoke to me. These are not his exact words as he spoke for several minutes on this one topic but this was what I got from it. He said that most people go out of their way to seek out comfort in life and that as runners we not only pay to race but we pay for discomfort. So when we are out there on race day during those last critical miles when we are uncomfortable and just want it to stop, that is the time that we need to push ourselves and embrace the pain! He said that racing and winning is about how much more discomfort you can tolerate than the next guy.

This was just the thing I needed to hear on this day. I am THAT person who will let up at the end because I just don't want to tolerate another moment of discomfort. I was fixated on everything he was saying about this "embracing the pain" speech because it really hit home for me. Thanks for the verbal kick in the rear! Josh finished 5th and Deena was first female across the finish line! She is just amazing!

As for my own race, I barely finished within the 1:45 time slot. I didn't have a goal in mind but for a brief second I thought I had a PR in me. I was just not committed to the idea at the starting line. It wasn't until halfway through the race that I noticed that I was feeling pretty good and decided to see if I could PR. I came up short but am still very happy with my time. I saw SkinnyRunner at the turnaround near mile 9 for me and 10.5 for her. She was dressed in this candied corn costume I think.

This race was awesome and it isn't even because I particularly liked the course because I didn't. This course ran over parts of the old LA Marathon course which brought back so many memories for me since it was my first marathon but it comprised of two out-and-back routing with some inclines towards the back half when you really don't want any (see elevation chart).

I liked it because logistically it was perfect...for me at least. I got up at 5am this morning and was parked inside the convention center parking lot by 6am. I had a lot of time on my hands to work out my nerves and stretch. The 7:30am start time is ideal for me since it lets my body wake up a bit. I used the bathroom twice inside the convention center and they were CLEAN! Plus it was warm inside there when the outside temperature was still a bit chilly. The corrals were organized. The volunteers were top notched. The bands were rockin'! A beautiful sunrise race start with perfect starting temp that eventually warmed up quite a bit though. I found the whole experience to be quite pleasant and would not mind running this race again in the future.

And as always, Rock n Roll knows how to rock the bling!

Mile splits, inconsistent on the back half.

Mile 1 - 7:54           Mile 8 - 6:17 (probably going downhill)
Mile 2 - 8:09           Mile 9 - 7:45
Mile 3 - 7:53           Mile 10 - 8:25 (this must be around the bridge)
Mile 4 - 8:01           Mile 11 - 7:41
Mile 5 - 7:59           Mile 12 - 7:55
Mile 6 - 8:14           Mile 13 - 7:21
Mile 7 - 8:06           Last .1 - 6:45

I ran wearing some cat ears. Surprisingly comfortable.

How Many Miles Was That?

2011-10-25T13:56:00.001-07:00

Every once in a while someone will ask me that question after a Spin class. How many miles was that? I always say, 'how many miles did it feel like to you?' because honestly I have no idea. Every person in my class are at a different fitness level with different goals. I really like that about Spinning. We all work at our own fitness level towards our own goals. We currently use regular Spinning bikes which means there isn't a pedometer attached to produce a mileage reading. So even if I had my Garmin on, it would say 0 miles even though I am drenched in sweat.

This is where I've been on most days. This photo was taken months ago and there are now twice as many bikes in there. There are currently 20+ bikes. I was really nervous when I first started teaching but now it feels almost second nature. Almost.

I was at the drugstore the other day and picked up this Oxygen magazine to browse while I was waiting in line to checkout. I use to have a subscription but then I got bored with it and stopped it.

I was flipping through it and noticed that it made mention of Spinning! The article pointed out that Spinning is 'tough on fat, gentle on joints"...as compared to running. This is hard for me to swallow as a runner but I have to agree with this point. It is also really fun to do intervals on a Spin bike and the more fit you get from Spinning, the more fun the routines become. Putting together a good playlist is key to keeping your class focused on the ride. I taught a beginners class last week to a couple of gals who had never been to a Spinning class and when I told them towards the end of class that we had already been at it for 50 minutes, they were amazed and commented that 'time flies'. I am sharing this article because I am happy that Spinning has a place in a weight training/fitness magazine. I use to weight train more often so this is close to my heart.

I was looking through my camera from recently and noticed that I haven't been very good about taking photos. Might as well since I do not have much time to blog. I found this photo of a conference I was at last week.

And a photo of what I ate for breakfast that day.

I took this photo for my sister. Moby signed and drew his signature art work on the Seabird vegan food truck.

I also went out for dim sum this past weekend. I haven't been to dim sum in a long while.

It hit the spot! Unfortunately, this was the only photo I have. A lone BBQ pork steamed bun.

That's all I have for now. I can't say that the frequency of posting will improve because it likely won't until late December. In the meantime, keep running, Spinning, lifting or whatever it is that gets your heart pumping and do it with gusto! Yeah!

Random Eats

2011-10-18T22:08:00.000-07:00

Things have been busy at work lately which is why I haven't been blogging as much. The end of the year has always been a busy time at work for me so expect more delays in my posting. Despite being busy at work I've somehow found time to cook more often. Getting home late most nights always makes me just want to whip up something quick at home rather than go pick something up. So here are some dinners I've thrown together recently. Nothing fancy, just proud that I made myself food.

Crab cake, raspberry and sauteed mushroom salad w/ mixed green salad in a honey balsamic dressing.

Turkey burger with sliced tomato, pickles, guacamole, mayo on sandwich thins.

Another shot of the turkey burger with the top bun on. I've been eating a lot of these turkey burgers lately. Particularly every night. They are so simple to throw together and easy to take to work for lunches.

Tom yum noodle soup with chopped napa and baby bok choy, soft boiled egg and cut up turkey burger. That turkey is dominating my life right now. That's what happens when you shop at Costco for turkey burgers.

Tonight's dinner was beef tacos with chopped tomatoes, guacamole and chopped mixed greens (sub in for lettuce)

This was a delicious stew my parents made over the weekend. I died! It was so good!

Another random photo I found on my camera today: Clif bar was giving away these Peppermint Stick bars to their Twitter followers and I snagged one! Score.

I don't even know what this is about! Puppy time-out?!?