One Afternoon in Little Tokyo

A couple of weeks ago, Sister K and I decided to take a little drive to Little Tokyo. Strangely enough we were not there for teriyaki or ramen or udon but instead we were actually looking for Paulette Macarons which recently opened a location in Little Tokyo. I guess macarons are big with the Japanese crowd. Paulette was actually situated inside a large shopping center.

We saw this as soon as we exited the parking structure.

Tako-Yaki anyone?

We decided to share a Red Bean Oban-Yaki. This was just okay. Not as good as what you will find at a Genki Living near you. I really miss the Tai-Yaki from Genki Living.

Little Tokyo Galleria

There were these giant flowers hanging from the ceiling. They were beautiful!

Flower theme continues inside in a display case. This display case surrounded an escalator.

Paulette! 

Strawberry Cones Stand, I've never eaten at one but Sister K was familiar with them.

Beard Papa's

Beard Papa's = cream puffs! ;^)

There was a home-store there as well. I guess they are going out of business so everything there was 20%. I bet these would be lovely in a garden.

Lots and lots of dishes to be looked at...

...including these cute kitty plates.

Japanese teas

Paper weights

Tetsubin, cast iron teapots! I almost purchased one. I'm not sure why I didn't. They were so beautiful!

Legend of Daruma! This is really neat and could make your dreams come true.

After we were done walking around inside the shopping center, we wandered outside and noticed lots of people that day out biking, rollerskating, running...except they were doing this on closed street. I didn't know what it was until I Googled it later. It is an event called CicLAvia! What a great idea this is! I hope to join in next time!

Happy Admin Day to Me!

When I am not running or eating, I actually have a job and since you now know that I celebrate Admin Day, you probably have guessed that I am someone's assistant. And you would be correct! I have an amazing boss and the fact that he appreciates me really makes coming into work everyday easier. I am pretty lucky! Every year he sends me flowers on Admin Day and I always get him chocolate on Boss Day. Yeah it's a win-win situation all around. This year I got multi-colored tulips...

...and this balloon!

I also got this from the company. :)

And if all that wasn't enough...I also got these lovely flowers from Sister K! Thank you for thinking of me Sister K! My office is like a florist shop now! :)

NYC Marathon Lottery Let-Down

You can probably deduce from this post title that I didn't get selected to run the NYC Marathon this year. I've actually been anticipating the lottery for a few days now and after some initial craziness on the NYC Marathon Facebook page this morning at 9am PST (noon EST), the selected names were finally posted up after half an hour of commentating at the Marathon Opening Day ceremony. "Not Selected" was what I saw next to my name.

To be honest I am a little bit relived that I didn't get selected because I had actually signed up for the Santa Barbara Marathon the weekend after. So I guess it all worked out in the end. I said I am a little bit relived but I am A LOT disappointed. After all that was said and done, I didn't get in! WTH? What a long and torturous registration journey this has turned out to be. I don't know if I had even posted about this but last November, I actually took part in the clown act that NYRR came up with to allow I think 50 or 100 people a chance at a guaranteed spot. All you had to do was sign-up and pay $10 for this "chance", promise them that you are good for the actual reg fee of something close to ~$200, take a photo of yourself with an item from one of their sponsors along with your reg number and then post it on your Facebook page so that all your friends and family can make fun of you. Yeah, I did all this...while on a business trip...timed my break to align with the reg window so that I can run up to my hotel room to take said embarrassing photo and then run back down to meeting. And still I didn't get in. Good grief man! And even after all this, you know that I will likely try again next year. At least now I am $200 richer and my November weekends have clear up a bit. :D

2011 Big Sur Marathon Modified Course Overview

Maybe it is just me but it seems almost unreal that the year I finally decide to sign up for the Big Sur Marathon is the year that Mother Nature decides would be a good time to mess with the original course so that the race organizers had to re-route the course as an out-and-back. Gee, that's swell! I guess there is always next year. I have a lot of mix feelings at this point but mostly I am excited. I am a bit sad that I will not be running the legendary course over Bixby Bridge or Hurricane Point but I am terribly excited to get to experience the modified course. Well, that was until I saw the new course elevation chart today...WTH? I'm not sure how to even interpret that chart so that my legs will understand.

Original Course:



Modified Course:

Because of this...

...I won't get to run on this!

However, this is still very beautiful! So I'll take it!

It's been many years since I've been in the Monterey/Carmel area so I am really excited about my upcoming trip. I am planning to explore as much as possible and eat everything in sight sample all the local cuisine. With any luck I hope to fit in some wine tasting, Salinas, hiking, photography and eating...so much eating! I should probably start packing soon since I am the world's slowest packer.

It will be so hard to part with my little pup for the weekend. I will be sure to give him a big smooch!

Knowlwood - Irvine, CA

Knowlwood, home of the world's best hamburgers or so the signs says. Knowlwood's is located in what I believe to be Old Town Irvine, near the train tracks in a red barn. I actually think that at some point it was used as an actual barn because there use to be a orange grove there. Now that area is occupied by Knowlwoods, a Denny's, a La Quinta Inn, a Mexican restaurant with the longest bar in the world, a post office, a sports bar and a hair salon. A really good hair salon might I add. So good that I can only afford to get my hair did maybe once a year. For the most part, I go to Knowlwood's because it is near by and there is never a wait, not even during breakfast hours on the weekends when most other places have a line out the door.

There is this old vintage car in the front of the restaurant right when you walk in. Oh and you seat yourself here. Don't walk in and stand around waiting to be seated like I did the first time I came here. During breakfast hours, you just go grab a table and someone will come to get your order. Outside of breakfast hours, you would go up to the counter, order and pay for your food and then find a table.

There are old farm equipment used as decor throughout the restaurant. There are billiard tables and a small arcade room in the back of the restaurant. I also want to mention that they offer Horchata here as a beverage choice (look to the left-hand side of the below photo).

You should probably skip the dessert case. It always looks pretty sad and I'm sure they don't make dessert in-house.

This is the breakfast menu which they served until 11:30am.

Waffles - pretty good here. I don't really like Belgian Waffles but you will if you are into this style.

Scrambled Eggs, Hash Brown and Sausage - I have to say that they do this dish very well here. It is basic but they get it right.

Some of their combo plates comes with a choice of bread, don't get the muffins. They are cold for the most part and dense. Not warm and fluffy! Don't say I didn't warn you.

Bacon Cheeseburger and French Fries - I can't comment about the burger but I liked the fries. They were crispy although a bit under salted but I like them that way.

Just a plain ol' Hot Dog, meh this was just okay. I don't think I will eat this again.

Grilled Fish Tacos - I don't know why I ordered these here when there are so many other places that do this dish very well. These were just okay.

Knowlwood
14952 Sand Canyon Avenue
Irvine, CA 92618-2100
(949) 857-8927

Weekends Are Made For Fun

This post is somewhat long since I took a lot of photos and have not really written anything in a couple of days. So my weekend started on Friday night when I went to get some ramen for dinner...you know...pre-long run meal. :^) I probably didn't need all this food for my run the next day since it was my final long run in prep for Big Sur.

It was another gorgeous day on Saturday morning and I finished up my final long run of 10 miles at the Back Bay. I am happy to be going into taper week. I feel like I put in some good training runs this cycle and am really looking forward to running Big Sur's beautiful course.

After my long run I went out to a late breakfast with the Honey. I was bad and ordered this amazingly decadent cinnamon roll. It was sinful! I shared but it was still so rich it knocked me off my feet.

Check out the gorgeous colors of my breakfast (Veggie Benedict @Side Street Cafe). So I ended up taking half of this home because of the the above cinnamon roll but I need to reiterate that it was worth it. @_@

Then we all headed up to my Sister's house for some weekend fun! Teddy looks sad here because he asked to drive and I said "no"!

I also got these new sunglasses. They are similar to a pair I use to have that broke so I was happy to get a new pair.

We had plans that evening to watch a play that little Sister K was in, so we had an early dinner at Clearman's. I got this plain hamburger which was just okay. I will do a proper write up soon.

Show time!

Oompa-Loompas!

Little Sister K played the part of Violet's mother (left). Good job Little Sister K, thank you for inviting us!

The next morning, I was up early, more out of habit than desire. I wanted needed coffee! I hope you didn't think that all these were mine!

I also finally picked up one of those cake pops. Yummy! Not $1.50 yummy but the inside cake part was really moist even though the outside coating was too sweet for me. I still liked it.

I also picked up this Pumpkin Scone to share with Sister S. I'm not a fan, not sure why I even got it.

The dogs were busy outside playing Follow The Leader.

Just a cute Teddy photo.

Dim-sum may have been had.

Then Sister S, the B-I-L and I took the dogs for a walk. We discussed dinner options and decided to make dinner instead of going out. Here I am prepping and chopping up stuff for a salad.

I attempted to copy the salad I always eat at Chipotle. It turned out pretty good! And colorful!

The boys had a big ol' steak and corn on the cob. I don't think they had any salad come to think of it. Ahem!

I'm not going to say who, but someone wanted some steak!

There was enough leftover to pack a lunch for the next day. Don't mind if I do!

I attempted to make an ice cream sandwich. Sister S was really impress by my efforts. Me, not so much!