Kyle cooked us spaghetti and it was so delicious!  I never loved or craved spaghetti until I didn't eat it anymore... Sean is not a huge Italian fan, even moreso of marinara and spaghetti, so I never cook it at home.  On accident once though (total side note), it was a 4th of July BBQ and everyone was eating hamburgers...and since I don't really like those, we walked down the street to Vons and I was like I guess I'll get one of those frozen dinner things (I really don't know that I'd ever had one before in my life) and I got spaghetti with mushrooms.  It was surprisingly really good, just way too small.  Anyway, after that I bought a bunch of them and I added tabasco (I know, weird) and I loved it.  So now I always add tabasco to my spaghetti and I really love it.  Ok, back to Kyle's spaghetti.  He cooks it with real parmesan cheese and then when it's done, he takes the portion of noodles you want, puts it in a pan with the marinara/ meat sauce, adds more cheese and mixes it around.  I honestly think it was the best spaghetti I've ever had!  
And on another side note, it reminded me of my friend Krystal in college....Sunday nights she would cook us spaghetti, caesar salad and wine and we'd watch Desperate Housewives together.  Those are such fond little memories!  That, and her rendition of a lasagne recipe in her ropera (pasta, meat, ricottaaaa!)  In memory of that, I made a side caesar salad for us to enjoy with our spaghetti.  Oh, and I made garlic bread from scatch!

Nijiya is like my "go to" when I don't like something I have to eat (which doesn't happen too often) or don't know what to eat.  They have all these little pre-made bentos and a pretty good variety at that.  The chicken karaage with the 3 musubi's and tamago is my favorite.  I almost always get it and it never fails me!  Today we had a "mexican fiesta" at the office.  Mexican is not my favorite food (besides loving Chipotle, which I don't think really counts as Mexican), so I decided to hop over to Nijiya after doing an errand to get some food.  I had the homemade tortilla chips and salsa at work though, and those were good... 
And yes, I know I went a bit overboard, but I was hungry and I couldn't decide!

I cooked shoyu chicken last week.  It's been a while since I've cooked it, but it's always good!  I pretty much have to always eat it with corn (yes, I eat a lot of corn) and I cooked enoki mushrooms on the side...yummy.

I have come to find that supermarkets have really good bakeries!  The Ralph's by my work/ place has an amazing bakery.  Their strawberry shortcake is to die for.  They also carry cheesecakes from the Cheesecake Factory and items from Sweet Lady Jane's too!  I often stop by there when picking up a cake or grabbing our monthly birthday celebration dessert for work.  This Friday, after I got my hair done in the marina, I stopped by Costco to get the infamous chocolate cake for Ryan's birthday.  They didn't have it!  I was bummed, so went to Albertson's to pick up some beer and figured I'd check out the bakery there.  To my surprise they had the PERFECT cake for Ryan (who used to have a "hamburger wallet" from Urban)...and even better, it was yummy!!!

Saturday was Marion's wedding shower lunch at The Farm in Beverly Hills.  It was my first time there after hearing about it numerous times.  I thought it was good, but much too healthy for me hehe.  I ordered the almond chicken salad, which was fine, but my favorites of the meal were the fruit and pastries they brought to start the meal (I tried the cinnamon muffin and the banana muffin).  The cinnamon muffin was VERY tasty.  And the highlight of the meal was the brownie sundae.  The brownie reminded me of my favorite from Corner Bakery!  Yum yum yum.  It was a fun luncheon, and I enjoyed watching Marion open all her gifts!

That night for dinner, Sean and I decided to try En Sushi.  We had gotten a coupon in the mail and Sean had tried it for lunch once so off we went.  We forgot our coupon, but they had a decently priced happy hour which we tried.  Unfortunately, they make you order a drink because happy hour is only at the bar.  I got a pomegranate martini, and even though it looked pretty, it tasted horrible!  Sean finished it for me after his beer.  The food was pretty good and so were happy hour prices, but after you order your drink it's not even that cheap... we thought it was just so-so.  

After our so-so meal, Sean and I were craving something really yummy... and for breakfast we all know what that means!  We had dim sum at VIP Seafood.  I don't think I could ever get sick of dim sum.  It just hits the spot every time.  Only problem is I ate way way too much food and my tummy hurt really bad because I stuffed myself.  
Oh!  And we saw Simon Baker from the Mentalist there.  I spotted him waiting for a table with what looked like friends and kids.  I knew he was SOMEONE but I couldn't think of who!  I kept thinking he was Val Kilmer from "At First Sight"...but couldn't remember the movie title.  It was driving me insane all day until Kyle recognized him from my super terrible paparazzi shot via iphone as the guy from the Mentalist.  Phew!

I was pretty stuffed all day and only had some nachos, but as dinner time rolled around our appetites were back.  We were at LMU/ Sean's parents house so we decided to hit up one of our favorite spots-- Kabuki!!  But since we had sushi the night before, we mixed it up with a dynamite, sesame chicken, chicken sukiyaki (which is so yummy and totally hit the spot because it was freeeezing outside) and our favorite spicy tuna crunch roll).

So I try to be a little healthier during our week night meals.  Friday- Sunday I tend to eat a buttload of food, and it's not always healthy.  So during the week, I like to make a side salad for us to have before we eat our main meal.  I figure not only are we getting veggies, but eating a salad before probably makes  me eat a little less of my main meal than I would without it, right?  
Our roommate Kyle made a comment about how we eat so healthy with our salads...HA!  Too bad it's because I eat like a 10,000 lb. man!  And I actually never liked salads too much, but a side one is the perfect size for me and with my home-made dressing I actually like it!
In my salads I like to include: lettuce, dried cranberries, corn, artichoke hearts. hearts of palm, pickled mushrooms if i have them, almonds and candied walnuts (I'm starting to eat nuts in salads now! I like the "candied' part) and blue cheese crumbles.  Sometimes I add tuna salad or if we have leftover salmon, then I add that.  Lastly, I sprinkle won ton chips on top and it just makes it whole.  I have to have mom bring them up when she visits or  sometimes tutu mails them to me.  But they are the Maebo won ton chips with the gold man on the package.

This week I also made a ramen cabbage salad.  I got the idea from Back Home At Lahaina (which has the best Lahaina Fried Chicken (and now I"m totally craving that!)).... it's really simple to make, the flavor is all in the dressing.  Sometimes I add kamaboko to it, but not this time.

Kyle made a huge pot of stew for us to eat this week.  It fed all 3 of us for 2 nights.  It was yummmy!  He cooked the short rib all day Sunday so it was super duper tender and it just melted in your mouth.  I hope he makes it again soon hehe.

On Monday I felt pretty disgusting from the weekend so I went on a long walk, about 45 minutes-almost an hour!  My feet started to hurt after about 5 minutes which was pretty discouraging.  I tried walking on mostly grass instead of the sidewalk but it still really started to burn.  I hate having plantars fassciitis for this reason, everything is such a struggle.  Obviously I'm not THAT pathetic that I'd be tired after 5 minutes of WALKING, but I could barely stand it because it hurt so much.  But I powered through, and made it to Ralplhs where I picked up a ton of groceries.  I thought I timed it perfectly so that Sean could pick me up on his way home, but he ended up staying later so I had quite an arm work out on the way back.  Nonetheless, it resulted in one of my favorite past times- cantaloupe and vanilla ice cream.  
Back story: When I was about 16 or 17 I played in a softball tournament (Babe Ruth World Series) in Millville, New Jersey.  It was one of my favorite tournaments because it was with some great girls and I played really really well and made the all star team :) I think my tourney % was something crazy like .500 I also remember it being the first time I ever dove head first into 3rd.  I'm normally such a chicken but I  was stealing and had so much adrenaline I just went for it and don't even remember thinking about it.  Anyway, it's nice to still have some positive softball memories!  And I found it online just now! 
http://www.tznet.com/~wrysa/wsteam.htm
Whoa, off track- point of the story was, I had these great host parents.  Miki Asamura and I stayed with Ed & Donna Pio.  They still send us a christmas card every year!  They owned a farm and Uncle Ed would bring us home cantaloupes, cut them in half and serve us ice cream inside.  It was amazing and I'll never forget it!

So this weekend Tiff & Scotty came to visit, so on top of the normal food consumption I have, a lot of alcohol consumption was had as well...and boy am I getting old for that!  2 nights in a row is getting to be too much for this old lady... but I had a great time anyway and it was so great to see both of them so obviously worth it!  
The first picture is from Thursday... I had dinner with Taryn at Curry House on Sawtelle.  I had tried this place waaay long ago my freshman year at LMU and don't remember liking it much so never returned.  Taryn convinced me to give it another try and it was quite tasty!  I got the ground beef with veggies and an egg on top.

My lunch friday at work... I have to say that the best part was the dessert.... I helped myself to two pieces of custard pie.  It was SO GOOD!

Then the weekend... Alanna had facebooked me telling me I needed to try the new acai berry absolut vodka... I finally got to try it on Friday ... they were giving away free shots of it at Sharkeez, so Sam & I had two ;)

Saturday morning Sean and I decided to get breakfast burritos on our way to the fabric district.  THe first one is mine....it was OK but Sean's was much better- he got a chorizo breakfast burrito and it was so much tastier.  Luckily he let me have a few bites of his :)

While downtown, Sean needed a snack, so he got some jicama with lime juice, salt and chili powder.  It was the first time I ever tried it (definitely an LA thing).  I think I would have liked the cucumbers  or watermelon better but it was OK.
Then Sean decided to get a snack at McD's so I got a sweet tea.  For just a buck it's such a good deal!
Then of course I got hungry, so on the way back from meeting up for some beers in Hermosa with Tiff & Scotty, I got a mini chicken katsu from L&L.  I know I'm a disgrace to Hawaii, but I've decided I like Ono Hawaiian BBQ better than L&L. I barely had any chicken, mostly just batter... and not enough rice, even though it was a mini... I love Ono because the sauce tastes the same as L&L but they put steamed cabbage at the bottom of the plate and I LOVE cabbage....
Lastly, we met up at Fusion for some sake bombs, beer and sushi!  We were in our usual back room, but with the craziest group of girls ever.  We were all betting on if they went to LMU or not, and I lost... they DID go to LMU, they were celebrating a "Pi Phi's" birthday and to say they were crazy is an understatement.  I will never be the same after watching the girl rape the mic stand!  It was disturbing... 

Thank goodness I somehow remembered to take a multi-vitamin before I went to bed, then a tylenol when Sean woke up to go to work... I woke up feeling not great, but better than anticipated.  I needed some greasy food though.  Tiff, Scotty & Sam were going to Wendy's  place in El Segundo, and since Becky and I had plans to hit up Anthropologie that afternoon I asked her to come with.  Just so happens she needed the grease after her long night too... so we headed over and not only got our delicious breakfasts, but an "appetizer" as Scotty called it-- biscuits & gravy... I had the "heart attack" the last time I was there, so had the hash, eggs and potatoes  this time, but took a picture of Becky's meal because it is pretty close to Heaven from what I remember...

When I got home from shopping with Becky (yes, tough day, I know) you'd think I'd still be stuffed... but Kyle was so nice and brought us home a curry pan (bread or doughnut in Japanese) It was really good!  It made me miss Japan though, I loved waking up and walking down the street to the nearest panya to get this!  
Then for dinner we made the kalbi from the korean market, enoki, kim chee, corn & rice :)

So last month Chris came to visit... he had a crazy list of everywhere he wanted to eat, but then again, I expected nothing less from him.  I'll post some of the pictures from our weekend together- got to try Buchon for the first time, including a tour of the facilities and meeting the chefs there who were Chris's classmates at the CIA.  Of course we also had to hit up K-town for some Korean BBQ.  No idea what the name of the place was- but the kalbi was soooooo tasty.  I prefer Tahoe Galbi overall, especially for the price.  But there was no denying how good that kalbi was.  We also went to Nic's Martini Lounge with them, and got some free vodka shots in the "vod box" courtesy of Sean's dad who's friends with the owner...unfortunately the owner wasn't there at the time so even though we still got hooked up, our bill was pretty outrageous!  Definitely a cool experience though.  I liked the grapefruit vodka shot I tried the best...and the pink bathroom was definitely a plus!  
-note to self: I will one day eat at Urusawa... especially after now hearing both Sean's dad and Chris & Jenny rave about it.  For Chris to say it's the best meal of his life has gotta say something... one day...

My cousin taryn recently started a blog...mainly about food...and I realized that I almost always take a picture of my food when I go out to eat...so why not start one too?  I'm gonna try to food blog & wedding blog...let's see how long this lasts!  This weekend Sean was away for Vince's Bachelor weekend, so his parents very kindly invited me to dinner at Mastro's with them.  It was my first time ever and HOLY MOLY I'm glad I went! 


Dinner consisted of 2 great wines hand selected by the wine experts Jim & Marilyn Smith, the Jump Lump Crab Stuffed Mushrooms, Ahi Tuna Taretare, Shrimp Cocktail, the Petite Filet, sweet potato fries, creamed spinach, the lobster mashed potatoes, then Mastro's Signature Warm Butter Cake, creme brulee & Chocolate Sin Cake....


The appetizers were all really good, the HUGE shrimp with the smoke from the dried ice was probably my favorite- so tasty!  Then my steak was cooked to perfection just the way I like it...absolutely delicious and even though I'm not a fan of mashed potatoes on a regular basis, I LOVED the lobster mashed potatoes!  Last but certainly not least, I was so stuffed I didn't even need dessert, but I figured what the heck, I'll take a bite of each... the Warm Butter Cake was TO DIE FOR... it was so good I was about to explode but I couldn't STOP!  It was soooooo good I can't stop thinking about it...

Saturday I went to try on dresses with my bridesmaids (if you want to read that one, read the wedding blog) but Becky stopped by Dough Boys and I finally got to try the red velvet she's been raving about... wow, she sure wasn't exaggerating!  She said it was a bit dryer than normal, but it was probably the best and most moist one I've ever had!  


We also stopped by Paulette's, my favorite for macarons... had the girls all try them to see what they thought since I really would like to have them at the wedding!


Lastly, we went to Alibi room for dinner so we could have Kogi tacos yummm!  Glad the girls got to try them since I just LOVE those things.  I think they all liked them too!  

And since we all know my day revolves around food, especially on the weekends when I have the freedom to do so, here is how I topped off the weekend and what Sunday consisted of... Dim Sum at VIP Seafood (which Taryn took me to for the first time...not as much variety as Chinatown and our normal Empress Pavillion, but definitely more convenient as it's less than 5 minutes away).  Also noticed there were way more Whites than Asians here.  Becky was able to join us for dim sum and said "welcome to dim sum on the westside!" Maybe I'll take Sam to this one first....less culture shock.


Sean came back from his Arizona weekend around 5 pm and we headed over to Tofu-Ya on Sawtelle.  Got the pork bulgogi and the tofu soup...yummm