Sick in bed

Sick in bed today, but I got on my thick cozy socks, a good book and a concerned kitty on my lap ...it's not so bad

LA's best (according to us)

We finally made our way to Umami Burger, which we heard was the best burger in LA. The reason we never went is simply because we love Father's Office's burger too much - and now that we've been to both we can objectively say Father's Office's burger is way better than Umami. Sorry Umami Burger - though your truffle burger was very delightful. 

Then we started to compile our own list of LA's best and here's what we came up with: 

best burger:  Father's Office

best pizza: Mozza Pizzeria 

though Pitfire came close in second

best taco: El Taurino

best hot dog: Wrustkuche

best ramen: Daikokuya

Fringe

Today was a bold day - I'm not sure what happened, all I did was go to the mall with Aaron. One thing led to another I came home with a pair of very bright pair of red pants - which I love but wasn't entirely sure I can pull it off. Then as if I wasn't bold enough today, I decided to cut my own fringe like this youtube tutorial. As I told Aaron, I made back the money I spent on the pants by giving myself a haircut!

 

...and here I am with some new fringe!

Brining & Brining

While Aaron is diligently brining our thanksgiving turkey, I am brining my 11yr old disposable camera in cranberry juice and vinegar. I was inspired by these and by these ... aren't they lovely. I know that though they seem easy enough to produce, it actually takes a lot of trial and error before getting those lovely effects to work ... sooo, I hope at the very least I can manage to get these developed. If this turns out remotely successful, I may have to stock up on some disposable cameras!

a little crafty ...

Something about being at home during the holidays that makes me want to be a bit crafty...so here's a mid week diy project. Inspired by martha stewart's felt balls. I can't get enough of them, I'm not sure why. They just look so cozy and festive. I plan to incorporate them in present wrapping next month but for the time being I think they make a lovely set of necklace. (my cat, r2d2, loves them too!)

Happy Sunday



La Petite Creperie



Orochon Ramen

This week Aaron and I dropped by Orochon Ramen in downtown LA. They're famous for ranking the spiciness of their ramen on their menu - special 2 being the hottest. If you can finish special 2 in 30 min. you get your picture on the wall of fame - just like Adam on Man Vs Food. I still have high hopes for Aaron to get on the wall some day. I, on the other hand, am usually a wimp and can't get past number 3 on the menu. In fact, Aaron had to ask for some plain broth so that I can get through my number 3 - fail.

Currently working on ...

getting this beautiful 1927 white rotary sewing machine to work. We lucked out with this at the estate sale, it came with all its custom footings. What a beauty!

this weekend we ...

This weekend we did a million little things like watch big daddy and fun with dick and jane back to back which turned out to be a lot more entertaining than expected. Mom and I went on a hunt for good garage sales and came home with no luck only to discover that our neighbor was having an enormous estate sale ... one of those good ones with lots of quality stuff and practically giving it out for free. I came home with a 1920s desk lamp, skirts, old books, purses and a vintage sewing machine that Aaron was kind enough to let me buy without knowing for sure that it really works. ah, but isn't that part of the fun?! Then sunday night we went to the beach ... and played chess ... because that's just how we roll. We grew up in LA and even with our college campus being just 15 min from the beach, we were never really beach goers. However when we DO go to the beach, we have a habit of bringing along a chess set and setting it out on the bench like a couple of old men. Yup, that's who we are - we enjoy a nice game of chess on the beach, a dinner date at costco, an afternoon stroll through ikea ... if that makes us odd, at least we've found each other.

Love Is ...picking me up and putting me down in a shopping cart

These are awful pictures I know but just the other day we were walking along little westside tokyo and saw an abandoned shopping cart on the side of the street - aaron decided that I must ride in it. If these pictures were any clearer you would be able to see the couple right behind him giving us funny looks. I giggled all the way to the car. We also got stuck on a crack for a few minutes. (I ate a lot at dinner) I guess love is seeing an abandoned shopping cart and knew immediately that your spouse would get a kick riding down the street in it.

On a second thought, love is probably me still smiling and giggling looking at these awful pictures.

Happy Friday!

Homemade Tofu

  

why I heart tofu

1. you can eat it raw: add some soy sauce and thousand eggs, yum

2. you can cook it this way or that way

3. you can mash it up and put it in quiche

4. you can fry it 

5. you can even stink it up and it's delicious*

*to me. not to husband.

A while ago I heard a piece on npr about homemade tofu and I just had to give it a try. Guess what? it was so much fun and therapeutic too! Turns out it's not so difficult you just need 1.patience 2.soy beans 3.lemon juice 4.water. AND if you run out of no. 1 then you get soy milk which is just as delicious. You can find the recipe that I used here at npr.