Kaya (Soft Tofu) - Irvine, CA

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

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

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?

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

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!

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!!!

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Revisiting My 2011 New Year's Resolutions

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!