Author: Ed

Cars, Cars, Cars in February

Though a lot of cars come and go through the Kim household due to my work, I don’t usually blog about them. February so far has been an interesting car month though – interesting enough that I thought I might share a few here.

2010 marks the 25th year of AutoPacific being in business…and I have been at the company a total of 9 of those years! So, we put on a birthday party of sorts at the office, inviting clients, potential clients, and even some members of the media to showcase our unique office that doubles as a consumer research space. I even gave two out of the seven speeches, the first about the state of the auto industry today and over the next five years, and the second about what the car companies can learn from non-automotive consumer brands like Apple, Target, and H&M.

We asked several car companies for some cool cars to use as props throughout our office, and Ford, Hyundai, and Kia happily obliged with some of their latest and greatest. As they arrived a few days prior to the event, I even took a couple of them home.

Let’s start with the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500! Some of you probably remember the awe-inspiring Shelby Mustangs from the 60s. This new one hearkens back to those, but also packs a 5.4L supercharged V8 with…wait for it…540HP. Yes, 540HP!


Pretty mean looking car, isn’t it?


I couldn’t get enough of that color too, called Grabber Blue.


I love these vertically striped seats with the horizontal stitching.

The car was so powerful that I wasn’t even really able to experience the car’s full acceleration until I went out to a deserted road (not many of those in Southern California) out in the foothills of Irvine. The car is scary fast, able to lay rubber even shifting up to third gear. When starting off from a stop, you actually have to be gentle with the gas pedal or else the back wheels will start spinning and losing traction due to insane power. Yes, this is probably the most powerful car I have ever driven, and I’ve driven a lot!


I leave you with this shot of the gauges. Yes, red, white, and blue. It’s so campy given what the car is that you gotta love it.

And now for something completely and totally different, the Ford Fiesta. The car has been on sale in Europe since 2008, but now that Ford is integrating its global operations and because there is now a bigger focus on fuel efficiency in America, Americans will finally start having more access to the very cool smaller Fords available in Europe. The Fiesta goes on sale this summer, but Ford lent us a European-spec model (complete with metric calibrated gauges and German language in the readouts) for the event. That was truly exciting for yours truly as many of you know that fun little cars are my favorite (my own car is a Mini Cooper).


I just absolutely love the styling. It’s dynamic, exciting, and fun – certainly a lot more interesting to look at than most entry level cars.


The American version will have a slightly different front end than seen here, with a smaller grille and a slightly longer bumper for better protection in parking lot speed impacts.

I’ll leave you with a few shots of the setup of the event, which went great!


The Fiesta and Transit Connect (another European Ford that has made its way across the pond to America) in the research showroom space.


We even got the all-new 2011 Hyundai Sonata to display on our turntable! Yes, it’s a Hyundai. Great looking, isn’t it? You’ll be seeing a lot of these on the roads soon.


All the tables and chairs, along with the stage and screen where we gave our speeches. We had nearly 100 people come! As a bonus, lunch was catered by the In and Out burger truck. Yum!

The Kims’ Christmas Ham…Part 2

Ok, so about a day and a half later, it was time to get back to the ham. During its long and salty bath, the leg had certainly changed color somewhat.

One thing for sure…it didn’t quite look appetizing yet!


Yup, still just a big hunk of leg.


Into the roasting pan it goes! See you in six and a half hours.


It had to keep roasting until the thickest part of the leg was 150 degrees inside, so after about four hours I had to periodically check the temp inside.

And drumroll…..


It’s finished and it’s coming out!


Yes, it looks a lot more appetizing now, wouldn’t you say?


It definitely looked the part.

So how was it? It was delicious. It actually didn’t taste like ham in the traditional sense; its consistency was almost like turkey, but way more juicy and flavorful than any turkey. Much softer too. In addition, I’d made a jus using the drippings in the pan, and that truly brought it to life. Mmm, salty goodness!

So I think it was a success. Everyone seemed to enjoy it – especially Dad and Uncle! As it was 22 pounds, it also looks like I’ll be eating ham sandwiches for the next month.

The Kims’ Christmas Ham…Part 1

As some of you know, Carrie and I have spent much of this past year learning to become better cooks. It’s been a very fun learning experience and the end result is that we now eat much healthier with much greater enjoyment than ever! Since we got married, we’ve always hosted Christmas Eve dinner for my side of the family, and this year is no different. However, there will be a very significant change to the menu now that we are much more ambitious cooks: no pre-cooked store-bought ham that you just merely heat up like in years past. No way, José – I’m brining my own fresh pork leg and making us a Christmas ham!

I didn’t – and still don’t to some degree – know what to expect as I’ve never done this before. But thanks to this recipe I found in Food & Wine magazine, I think I’m in good hands here. Chili-brined fresh ham, it says. Ok then – I’m going for it!

This will be a multi-part series as we’re still two days before Christmas Eve and making this ham from scratch is a two-day affair. Today’s part was making the brine and putting the giant 22 lb. hunk of pork leg into it! So how did it all go? Well, something like this.


Here are the doings for the brine: water, Kosher salt (for a swine dish, no less), sugar, serrano chilis, cloves, and peppercorns.


Pouring in the salt and sugar…


Chopping up the chilis…


After much boiling of the water/salt/sugar mixture, mixing the chilis, peppercorns, and cloves into the mix! Yes, given the massive size of the pork leg, I had to go out and buy a party drink bucket from Smart&Final to get it all to fit.


Why am I rolling up my sleeves?


So I can deal with this giant pork leg! It’s huge, heavy, and its skin feels really weird… I had to special order this bad boy as it’s not something grocery stores typically have in stock.


And here it is in the brine, where it will remain for the next day and a half!


As you can see, it really is huge – it takes up the entire bottom shelf of the fridge.

Pretty fun stuff! Stay tuned for more – hopefully culminating in a successful Christmas dinner!

Southwest Road Trip Days 7 and 8: The Shady Dell in Bisbee, AZ

We left Phoenix and headed southeast for the part of the trip that would prove correct the old mantra, “Save the best for last”. Our final destination was the old copper mining town of Bisbee. This neat little town is notable for its unique Victorian architecture (not what you’d expect near the border with Mexico) and hilly terrain. Quite a few hippies migrated here from San Francisco in the 1970s once being a hippie was no longer in vogue. As such, Bisbee is full of art, music, and neat shops.

We didn’t spend all that much time in the town itself though. Why not? Quite simply, once we checked into The Shady Dell, we didn’t want to leave!

What is the Shady Dell? It’s the most unbelievable recreation of a 1950s-era RV park with a bunch of vintage travel trailers that have been lovingly restored down to every last detail. Ours was the 33-foot 1951 Spartan Mansion. I don’t even know where to start! So I’ll try to let the pictures speak for themselves.

Here’s the living room:

The ancient TV functioned flawlessly – and was wired to a hidden DVD player for watching any of the old movies that were thoughtfully provided.

There was an old record player that worked too! Several old records are in the trailer for your listening pleasure.

All the details were tended to – real vintage records to play and a real coffee percolator in the little kitchen!
 

This is the dining nook – on which sat a vintage radio that not only worked, but was tuned into the Shady Dell’s own radio frequency, to which an iPod filled with 50s music and commercials played around the clock!

Super cute bedroom….

Check out Carrie’s short video tour of the Mansion!

Truly amazing, isn’t it? But the grounds themselves are equally amazing. Dot’s Diner is on site, and it’s an actual prefab 1950s diner that originally stood at the corner of Ventura Blvd. and Topanga Canyon in LA. The burger patties were handmade and some of the best we’ve had in a long time. Super friendly folks inside, too!

And look at the rest of the Shady Dell! Beautiful trailer after beautiful trailer, each with a little green lawn and chairs and in some case, white picket fences.

How fitting is it that the end of our retro road trip, inspired by the great family road trips of yesteryear, was spent in the exact sort of vintage trailer from that time period? And as people would do in a more relaxed yesteryear, we just kicked back and relaxed in the trailer, really only leaving to eat. And what occupied our time in the trailer? Scrabble!

After the second night, we checked out with a heavy heart. We certainly didn’t want to leave – we truly fell in love with the place. But as we began our nine hour journey back to Long Beach, we knew that this road trip had been one of the best trips we’ve ever taken. We certainly feel inspired to take many more road trips; America is such a huge place with countless things to see and experience.

We just can’t wait to get on the road again.

Southwest Road Trip Day 6: Arcosanti, Alice Cooperstown, and Taliesin West

PhoenixPostcard

After Holbrook, our travels took us out of Northern Arizona for good and southward into the Phoenix area for some classic Ed and Carrie city slickin’. Leave it us to fit that into this fairly rustic trip!

Actually, the Phoenix area served as one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s two home bases, so there are definitely some architecturally significant things here. Heading south into Phoenix, we stopped off at Arcosanti, a vision of a future community designed by Paolo Soleri, a onetime student of Wright, and under construction since 1970.

It’s supposed to explore alternatives to urban sprawl and minimize impact on its natural surroundings. We didn’t have time to wait until the next scheduled tour (they don’t let you wander the grounds) so we unfortunately didn’t get to see most of it. Too bad, as its 1970’s vision-of-the-future look is intriguing! Here’s the visitor center building and us enjoying a cup of coffee within its circular windows.

Next, it was off to lunch. We drove straight into downtown Phoenix to eat at Cooperstown, Alice Cooper’s sports bar and restaurant. Sports bars aren’t usually where you’ll find us, but as this was Alice Cooper’s sports bar, we had to see – and eat – it for ourselves.

I’d say it’s like Hard Rock Cafe meets ESPN Zone. But the place doesn’t take itself seriously, and this is what makes Cooperstown pretty funny. I mean, check these out!

Afterward, we headed off to nearby Scottsdale to see Taliesin West, Frank Lloyd Wright’s winter home and studio. One of the most influential architects of the last century, Frank Lloyd Wright’s work and principles continue to influence and inspire architecture today. Construction on Taliesin West began in the 1930s, which shows just how visionary Wright was.

The living room was my favorite part of the house:

Imagine working in that studio!

Definitely encapsulates a lot of Wright’s out-of-the-box way of thinking:

This was definitely one the trip’s highs up to that point – we can’t help it, but we love this stuff! The day ended with a first class dinner at Asia de Cuba, the restaurant at the Mondrian hotel. It was for sure quite a contrast with the prior night in Holbrook, to say the least!