Tag: dining

Museums and Fossils and Canters … oh, my!


This weekend, our 3 nieces and nephew get to spend some quality time with us. Last night, our oldest nieces Kendall & Jordan got to spend the night at our house, and then we had an action-packed day planned for them. We have been waiting for such a long time to take the big girls to an art museum … and then we decided to hit up the La Brea Tar Pits, too!

However, no time spent at Uncle Ed and Auntie Carrie’s house can go without a little Guitar Hero. Check out these rocker-girls in action!

After a fair amount of rocking ensued, we headed off to LACMA for an introduction to some modern art!

We were particularly excited for the girls to see the “Happy Happy” installation in the Your Bright Future exhibit. Basically, Happy Happy is bunch of brightly colored kitchen items from the 99 Cent Store, all hung from up high. It’s huge! You can walk through it, play in it – its fascinating for both adults and kids alike. I think the girls were really surprised to see how art isn’t just a painting on a wall or a drawing in a sketchbook.

We bought the girls sketchbooks and colored pencils so they could draw at the museum if they were inspired, or they could simply write how they felt about a piece that they saw. I was excited that they really got into it:

Kendall and Jordan also got introduced to some of our favorite artists – Andy Warhol, Jeff Koons and Wassily Kandinsky!
Learning about Warhol …

Intrigued by Jeff Koons’ “Balloon Dog” …
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Inspired by Kandinsky!

After exploring the museum, we walked around to the back, and noticed that the Happy Happy artist also had another similar exhibition that allowed the public to participate in!

The girls were really impressed by this, and we checked out all the random objects people incorporated into the piece:

All that art worked up our appetites, so we decided to hit up Canter’s to show Kendall & Jordan how all the cool kids do lunch in L.A.!

Matzo Ball Soup, Pickles and Bagel Chips … yep, we’re at one of the best Jewish Delis ever!

We were feeling good after lunch, so it was finally time to check out some fossils and Ice Age skeletons at the La Brea Tar Pits …

Once inside, there was lots of cool stuff to see – including lots of bones! Just a few of the monsters we saw …

They even have real volunteers in the Paleontology Lab cleaning up the bones and fossils right in front of you! The museum said that after all this time, they finally found a Woolly Mammoth with tusks intact. This is the very first time they have been able to salvage a full Mammoth! Inside the lab, they are calling him “Zed”. Here is part of Zed’s tusks:

Pretty cool stuff:

Everyone enjoyed the visit, but the girls were surprised at how strong the smell was. Here is Kendall’s summary:

And finally, the perfect end to a perfect day – we made a stop at Sprinkles for Kendall & Jordan’s first “original” gourmet cupcake. Only the best for our girls!

Check out the album for more awesome pics!

Kendall and Jordan visit
August 2009

Tomorrow’s agenda: Another big day out with Mikayla & Ethan!

Las Vegas … in food!

Ed & I braved the crowds and headed out to Las Vegas this Memorial Day weekend. We have to say, a big motivation was all of the great food we’ve been hearing about, and we decided it was time to make the trek. We are pleased to report that it definitely lived up to the hype – we were very impressed. We felt like we barely made a dent in all there is to offer there! Guess that means we’ve got reasons to go back!

MESA GRILL – CAESAR’S


We got right down to business shortly after arriving by hitting up Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill at Caesar’s. Ed & I are big Iron Chef America fans, and we have watched – and salivated, over many dishes we’ve seen Bobby “throwdown” on TV. With his specialty southwestern style cooking, he creates a lot of what our Southern Californian palates crave … bold, spicy flavors and ingredients like chiles, avocados and beans. We were really excited about having lunch at Mesa Grill, and weren’t disappointed.

We began with the Tiger Shrimp + Roasted Garlic Corn Tamale with Corn-Cilantro Sauce. This appetizer tasted just as good as it sounds! We were so eager to gobble it up, that we forgot to take a photo first! Delightful in every way.

The menu all looked so good, that Ed and I opted for the Prix Fixe Lunch. We ordered opposite selections from each other so we could (literally) try it all! Here’s how it all went down:
First Course:
Green Pea + Green Chile Soup
Crispy Serrano Ham + Mint-Cumin Crema
OR
Blue Corn Pancake
Barbecued Duck + Habanero Chile-Star Anise Sauce


Ed chose the Pea Soup, and this was the highlight of his meal. Even I had to admit it was incredible, and I am not usually a fan of Pea soup! How it had so much flavor was beyond me … this dish was a 15 out of 10. Perfection.


I chose the Blue Corn Pancake with duck. It was very bold, and extremely flavorful … but ended up being a little rich for my tastes.

Second Course:
Pulled Pork Sandwich
Chipotle-Molasses BBQ Sauce, Cole Slaw + Bread and Butter Pickles
OR
Grilled Sea Scallops
Blue Corn Tortilla, Avocado Relish + Jalapeno Pesto


Ed chose the Pulled Pork. We’d have to say it was a little light on the chipotle, and a little heavy on the molasses … it was very sweet!

I chose the Scallops, and this was so delicious I don’t even have words! Actually, I do: JALAPENO PESTO. Yes, please!!!

The third course was an espresso flan … we spaced and didn’t get any pictures of that one! All in all, Bobby didn’t let us down. Our lunch was fantastic!

TAO – THE VENETIAN


On Friday night, we visited Tao at The Venetian for one of our favorite cuisines – Asian Fusion. The menu is very inticing, and the decor is incredible! It was extremely dark, and my pics didn’t quite turn out … so I “borrowed” a few from the web:
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As you walk in, the entryway is lined with bathtubs filled with rose petals and water … true rose water!
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We sat right in front of this super cool wall lined with backlit ancient opium pipes.
The food was amazing … we had a little of everything. Lobster wontons, Yakitori swordfish, asparagus tempura, kung pao chicken and a veggie roll. We’d say that the food was about a 8 out of 10 … but we enjoyed it immensely. The highlight was definitely the Lobster Wontons.

BEIJING NOODLE NO. 9 – CAESAR’S


The next day, we had an awesome lunch at Beijing No. 9, which is easily the highlight of our trip. It had it all … real, authentic chinese food that was fresh and not greasy! The noodles were hand made, the dumplings were hand rolled – it was casual, but stunning, all at the same time.


Hand made shrimp dumplings, and Ed’s chinese beer.

Okay … we went nuts over the decor of this place. We can’t help it, when it comes to a restaurant, the ambiance matters to us – and boy did this place have style. The entrance is lined with goldfish tanks … the walls and ceiling are covered in this lacquered white cutout pattern … and the hostess wears a 60s airline stewardess-type dress that’s orange. It’s AWESOME.


Needless to say, we fell in love with Beijing No. 9.

FIX – BELLAGIO

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Last but not least, our final hurrah was at Fix in The Bellagio. Fix is classic American food, done very, very well. We were drawn to look of this place of course, but once we peeked at the menu, we knew we had to dine there! We started off with Pineapple Mojitos, shared a delicious Rock Shrimp and Red Pepper appetizer with amazing chile sauce, and shared that evening’s special – a steak for two. It was awesome … the selection they gave us was cut so that half of it was porterhouse, the other half a filet mignon. With two sauces to choose from (a red wine reduction or white peppercorn), we had lots of options in how we wanted to enjoy our meat! But truth be told, it was prepared so deliciously, we didn’t even use the sauces. It was excellent. But there was absolutely no room for dessert after that one!

All in all, we’d say we are now completely satiated – this was hedonism at it finest, folks!

Ed’s visit to Shannon and Mani in San Rafael

Thanks to Toyota, who flew me up to Napa to drive the 2010 Prius, I was able to spend the weekend visiting Shannon and Mani in nearby San Rafael in Marin County. This was the first time I’d seen the new place as they had moved there from Santa Cruz back in late November.

To make a long story short, we had a wonderful time. The new house is really adorable and Shannon has (as always) put her signature thumbprint on it. It’s located walking distance to downtown San Rafael, which is filled to the brim with amazing restaurants and pubs, and just a few minutes to nearby San Anselmo (which I fell in love with) and Fairfax (another neat little town with a somewhat younger vibe). All three cities are surrounded by greenery and all boast wonderful food and retail with a refreshing freedom from chains and franchises.

Here’s Spirit on one of our many walks to downtown. Since he has three legs and is getting older, bringing the wagon’s a necessity for when he gets tired. Honestly, he seems to love the wagon rides!

One of the culinary highlights was Sol Food, a Puerto Rican restaurant that is locally renowned and one of the most popular joints in town. It was amazing – and I’m sad to report I was so engrossed in the food I forgot to take pics. I’m sure the Puerto Rican community might take issue with this statement, but it seems to bear much similarity to Cuban food, which I love as well.

Here’s the new place! Cute, huh?

The best meal of the trip was the dinner Shannon cooked up last night: a noodle soup with wontons and a make-your-own spring roll bar! WOW. Bravo, Shannon!

See all the pics here!

Carrie’s Birthday Fun Day!

Today was Carrie’s actual birthday and we decided to celebrate in numerous and diverse ways. It was truly an action-packed day, starting off in Palm Springs and eventually ending up at Disneyland. All in all, it was a great way to ring another fantastic year in the life of Carrie Kim!

As you know, we stayed overnight at the Viceroy and relished its swankness. Our first stop this morning was the Parker Palm Springs to get the birthday girl (and her husband) all pampered up at the spa and for a crazy good brunch.

The Parker is an incredibly fun-loving homage to early ’70s style, designed by Jonathan Adler. The grounds themselves once belonged to Gene Autry, but after Adler’s revamp, it’s a pleasure palace that will make anyone who experienced the ’70s smile. Anyways, after getting rejuvenated in the spa, we walked over to Norma’s, the Parker’s in-house breakfast/lunch eatery.

As it was my wife’s birthday, I saw fit to wear a shirt showing my birthplace and year of birth!

We started off with these amazing crab cakes – some of the best we’ve ever had.

I had Norma’s Eggs Benedict, which had asparagus and pancakes instead of the usual English muffin. Carrie had Claw’s and Chip’s Gone Fishing, aka fried sea bass and lobster done fish & chips style. Wow.

But a birthday lunch wouldn’t be complete without a cake. So I had them bring out the big guns: Chocolate, Chocolate Ice Cream Cake. But I had no idea it would be THIS big! We barely made a dent in this giant thing! But it was unbelievably delicious.

What next? How about spending the rest of the day at Disneyland? So that we did. Since it was Carrie’s birthday, she got a button announcing the occasion…and since I was celebrating with her, I got one that said “I’m Celebrating!”

Here’s the birthday girl in front of It’s a Small World.

Carrie even got a picture with Mickey and Minnie!

What a fun day it was…I think we’ve decided that from here on out, we should always not work on our birthdays!

Happy Birthday, Carrie!!!

Pics from the whole birthday trip are here:

Palm Springs Weekend 2009