Gummy Bacon

Bacon just makes everything better! Come back home from a bad day of work, eat a slice of well cooked bacon, instant gratification! Well, at least till I swallow, then I might need another slice to keep my mood up. When you put bacon in anything, wether it is fried rice, salads, pasta, steaks, scallops...etc. it makes it a notch better. People are even putting bacon in their vodka now! The only thing that I probably don't want any bacon in is my dessert; but who knows, maybe I would actually enjoy bacon ice cream, I never thought I would eat garlic ice cream, either.

So when I went to Wacko in Los Angeles last time and saw these gummy bacon, I just had to buy them, and for some reason I was hoping that it would be bacon flavor even though I totally acknowledge that the package has "strawberry flavor" all over it, not to mention the fact that an actual bacon flavor gummy might be kind of gross.

They even package these the same way real bacon are packaged. I can already imagine that in some school yard out there, a little 8 year old might try to trick his buddy saying that he's going to eat raw bacon and bust these out.

Dispite the fact that it looks like raw meat, they are actually quite tasty and fun to eat.

I also found these not bacon related gums that I thought was pretty amusing in the store as well. I think my boyfriend's dad will get a real kick out of it.

Bouquet of Lilies origami ornament

It took a few days longer than I like, but I finally finished my lilies kusudama ornament! Yay!

Lilies are one of my favorite flowers, they are so beautiful and elegant. Here are a few lilies items on Etsy that caught my eye. I especially like the Tiger Lily lamp work ring, and yes yes... I know there's a doll in the mix and she's not a flower, but her name is Lily and she's just so adorable that I had to include her here.

Chinese BBQ Pork - First attempt

On my most recent trip to my Safeway, I noticed that they started to carry already cooked Chinese BBQ pork near the meat section, and my first reaction was " >_< " (that's the face I made, in case you're wondering.) It looked very artificial, however, I have not tasted it so I cannot comment on how it taste. It is very possible that it tastes decent or maybe it'll be the best Chinese BBQ pork I'll ever have, but for some reason, I doubt that. If someone has already tried it, feel free to set the record straight. I'm going to try to get a photo when I go there next time.

This prompted me to ponder how hard/easy it is to make Chinese BBQ pork at home, and having my boyfriend bugging me every so often to re-create the best Chinese BBQ pork he had when we were in Beijing earlier this year helped, too. So after a little research, I've prepared myself to go into the kitchen for my first attempt at Chinese BBQ pork (aka Cha Xiu).

I got a bottle of Lee Kum Kee Chinese BBQ Sauce, which you can get at any Asian supermarket. You might be able to get it in the normal supermarkets, but I will need to confirm that since I never look for Asian ingredients in Safeway. Below is a picture of what the bottle looks like.

Here is the recipe that I used:

2 pounds Pork loin
8 tablespoon Lee Kum Kee Chinese BBQ sauce
1 tablespoon rice wine
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/2 tablespoon sugar ( I used brown sugar)
1 tablespoon water

Mix all the ingredients together and marinade the pork loin for 3 days.

Now the marinade has penetrated deep into the pork loin, the wait is finally over! We can start the roasting process! Preheat oven to 350F.

What I did was I took a couple big paper clips and bent them so they will have double hooks, one on each end. I hooked one end through the meat and hanged the other side on the heating coil and I put a roasting pan with water on the bottom to catch the drippings like the picture below. Please be extremely careful if you attempt to do this, as the oven is hot, and if you're accident prone, I would suggest you just roast the meat on a oven roasting pan.

I roast it for 20 minutes, took them out and brushed the pork loin with some Chinese BBQ sauce that I mixed with a little water and a drop of red food coloring I found in the pantry. Turned the heat to broil, put the pork loin back into the oven for another 10 minutes. And below is what I got.

The meat was definitely very flavorful, and the final glaze gave it a shiny and sticky look, which also added to the flavor. It was a little tougher than what I would like, but I found out it was because of my own stupidity; apparently during the last 10 minutes of broiling the meat, I was suppose to leave the oven slightly open, plus I roasted it a tad bit longer. I don't think the flavor is spot on, but it's decent. And for the first try, I think I'll cut myself some slack.

I have bought some pork shoulder loin from Costco already that has a bit more marbling and I think it will be more tender and juicier. I'm also thinking about testing out a few other recipes to see which one produces the most authentic flavor. So look out for Chinese BBQ Pork - part II later!

The Dark Knight

As the last scene of the movie faded into darkness, the audiences breaks into a mixture of clapping and cheering. I took a brief moment to bring myself back to reality and wishing that we didn’t have to wait a few years till the next one comes out. We quickly walked up the stairs to exit the IMAX theater hoping to beat the restroom rush and my heart was still pounding with excitement when we were riding the escalator down. I couldn’t help but say “Wow! That was a darn great movie!”

The Dark Knight is bigger and better than the previous Batman movies that I’ve seen before, and I am glad to see that someone has finally revived the Batman movie series. (starting with Batman Begins, of course.) It is an action packed movie that gets your heart pumping within 5 minutes into the film, and takes you on a rollercoaster ride till the very end. This movie quite simply put, is amazing!

I know it has already been said numerous times, but I just have to say it again; Heath Ledger did a tremendous job at portraying the Joker. In my opinion, this was his finest work in his lifetime, and through this role, he has proven that he is a different class of actor. You will not find a trace of Heath Ledger in this film as his mannerism, his speech, the accent has completely transformed, and he has became one with his character. I don’t think that anyone else would have done a better job than him.

This version of the Joker is more twisted and darker than before, and quite frankly, he scares me! He is a criminal genius, and as he said so himself “a better class of criminal;” watching this movie was like watching a novice chess player (Batman, Gotham police) go against the grand master (the Joker). The novice reacts and ponders each step to take against the grand master’s action, not knowing that in reality each decision they made was already predetermined by the grand master already. The Joker certainly played the game brilliantly, and although he was apprehended at the end, Batman lost…

I also very much enjoyed their interpretation of how Harvey Dent became Two Face; it was a romantic tragedy that made my heart ache. Ache for his loss and ache for the Joker’s success.

I am not sure how they snatched up a PG-13 rating. To be fair, there were no nudity or swearing in the movie, however, I do not think this movie would be appropriate for your 13 year old, unless you want to scare them and say “ok honey, this is what will happen if you make mommy and daddy mad, so be a good boy/girl now.” If you have any inkling of seeing this movie, or maybe you chose to see Mamma Mia! this past weekend instead, you got to go see it; and the only way to see this movie is at an IMAX theater, especially since they shot the movie with IMAX cameras. Wait if you have to, but see it in IMAX, you won’t regret it!

Oh and just in case you were reading all of this to find out if I made it to the bathroom before the rush... sadly, I didn't. :P

Preview - Kusudama ornament

Before I start making my origami items, I always make a test model using some scrap paper I find in the house; and this week I am going to make my new kusudama ball with lily flowers. Here's a preview of what it will look like, and hopefully it will be even better when I use color papers. Stay tuned to see my final product, or it should be in my shop in a few days time after I work out the kinks.

4th of July L.A. trip - Gordon Ramsey at The London

After much anticipation, Gordon Ramsey's restaurant has finally opened its doors in West Hollywood. Yay!!! I will no longer need to fly across the globe or the U.S. to be able to eat in his restaurant and that is wonderful news.

We got slightly lost on our way to restaurant, which is situated inside The London hotel. The hotel is located right next to the Sunset strip, but the entrance is on a side street, San Vicente Blvd, which we missed cause we did not see the hotel, so we went down the next street and made 3 right turns, even then the entrance was still a little hard to see. Parking was valet only and there were different prices depending on if you're staying in the hotel or visiting the restaurant; I think we paid $10.00 for restaurant valet parking.

We were a little worried before we walked into the restaurant because we read that more than a few people had trouble or confusion with their reservation. We never received a confirmation call from the restaurant, either, but the host had all of our information correctly and seated the two of us right away. Maybe they worked out the kinks, or maybe because it was 4th of July so there were not as busy to confuse themselves. Whatever it is, it was good for us!

The service was what I would expect from a fine dining restaurant: wonderful and courteous. Our server was very helpful and knowledgeable of the menu. Our passion fruit ice tea were never empty and tasty I might add. After each dish were served, there was always someone to come check up on us after a few minutes.

You can order from two menus, there's the a la carte menu and a 6 course chef tasting menu; I read from other people's review (after we dined there) that the whole table should all have the chef tasting menu or all should order from the a la carte menu, and they needed the chef's approval to deviate from that rule, but that was not our experience. We were interested in having the chef's menu, but there were so many other dishes that I had my mind set on, so when our server came to take our order, we told him that my boyfriend was going to have the chef's menu and I will order a few plates a la carte. He told us that is not a problem and advised us that he would recommend us to order 4 dishes as the plates are quite small.

So here is what we had that day, I took pictures of all the dishes we had. The pictures on the top is from the tasting menu, and the bottom side is what I ordered from the a la carte menu. The kitchen paced out our dishes and arranged my a la carte plates to come out from light to heavy.


Our first unofficial course, the amuse buse is a cold chawanmushi with edamame and crispy duck tongue. For those of you we are not familiar with chawanmushi, it is a Japanese egg custard dish steamed in a tea cup. It was very flavorful and the crispy texture and flavor of the duck tongue is very reminiscence of bacon, which makes everything taste good, everything maybe except dessert.

Here's comes our first course. On the top is the Tuna with pickled daikon with sesame soy dressing. I believe the little dot on the third slice of tuna from the left is the crab beignet which is barely noticeable. The tuna was very fresh and with the daikon and soy on the bottom make it taste almost sashimi like.

On the bottom is my chilled almond soup. I am an almond nut (heehee.. get it? almond nut, cause you know, almond is a nut and I'm nuts for almonds. yes.. yes.. I'm a big dork, I know.) So you see why I have to order this soup when I saw it on the menu. The texture of the soup is a little grainy, probably from the ground almonds. The almond flavor was there but light, it was savory and a little tangy. The prawns were sweet and tender. Very interesting flavors and was definitely something new to me.

Top: fresh mozzarella with heirloom tomatoes, cape gooseberries, basil pesto.

A very refreshing second course and a palate cleanser. I love how sweet the cape gooseberries was and it goes so well with the cheese and tomatoes. It was a perfect pair with my duck breast, which is a much heavier dish in comparison. I am very big into balance, for instance, when my boyfriend orders a decadent chocolate cake, I would order a fruit tart to balance it out so we won't get tired of a richness of the cake. So after I had a few bites of my dish, it was nice to to sample this dish, in fact, I think I enjoyed it more than mine.

Bottom: Apple-cured duck breast and crispy tongue and foie gras.

As I said before, it is a much heavier dish and was beautifully presented. It looked like a work of art! The square with striped pattern on the bottom is the duck breasts. It was sliced paper thin and if it was not sliced by a machine, the chef certainly is extremely skillful with the knife. The foie gras is rich, smooth and creamy And of course when you eat each components together the crispy duck tongue gives it a nice crunch and adds another dimension to the dish.

Top: Hand-dived sea scallops

We were looking very forward to the scallops, especially because it is my favorite shell fish and we always watch people say how great the scallops are on Hell's Kitchen. The scallops are perfectly cooked; lightly seasoned, seared, very delicate and sweet. I just wish there were more of them.

Bottom: Smoked pork belly with roasted Scottish langoustine

Aww... the star of the evening! I ordered this dish because of the langoustine, but fell in love with the pork belly, and obviously so did my boyfriend, because I gave him a little taste and he pretty much jacked my dish and devoured it. We almost ordered a second one and he has demanded that I re-create this dish at home or go buy Gordon Ramsey's cook books for the recipe.

The pork belly was smoky, sweet, tender, and has a crispy skin. You can pull it apart with just your fork! This was one of those dish that when you take your first bite, it is so good that you will roll your eyes to the back of your head, and let out a tiny moan, much like another feeling that people experience sometimes, well except the moan part might not be tiny. :P

Top: Beef fillet and Kobe short rib

A very juicy piece of steak and the short rib was extremely tender as you would expect from a Kobe class beef. The only part that I was disappointed was that the short rib was so small. Somehow I expected it to be larger and to be more of the main part of the dish, rather than an accompaniment to the fillet, but then.... the beef fillet is listed first on the menu, isn't it?

Bottom: Honey and soy roasted quail, sautéed foie gras with pear chutney

Not to say that this dish was not good, but I wish I had the pork belly as my last dish. It was very tasty and well cooked, but I guess I was expecting something more refined from a fine dining restaurant. The quail was a little bit on the dry side and the sauce was quite heavy. I did enjoy the sauteed foie gras very much though, it was one of the best that I ever had. (My favorite is from La Foret in San Jose, CA)

My favorite part of the meal has come: DESSERT! This is part one of the two desserts that comes with the tasting menu. It is a olive oil gelato with confit Meyer lemon and basil gelée and sable breton on the bottom. I have never had olive oil gelato before so this was an experience; the gelato was light with a little nutty and grassy taste, and the gelee really adds something to the overall taste.

The last two course of desserts.

Top: Pineapple soufflé with Thai curry ice cream.

So the server brings the souffle and right afterwards they plop this little ball of Thai curry ice cream in the middle of the souffle. I've had plenty of souffles before, but never had one with this flavor before. The souffle was cooked very well, no complaints with the texture, however, the flavor just was not to our taste, and to be honest, I could not taste the pineapple flavor because it was either too subtle or it was being overpowered by the curry flavor.

Bottom: Rose water sabayon, mandarin orange four ways and cinnamon ice cream

I knew I wanted this dessert before I made reservation, and it did not disappoint. The rose water sabayon was a delightful treat, and I especially loved the mandarin orange sorbet on the bottom, it was sweet, sour and refreshing. If you have read my previous post on Vivoli Cafe then you would understand what I mean when I say after I finished this dessert, my dish looked like my gnocchi dish.

Overall, I am very pleased with my experience at Gordon Ramsey at the London. I know some people commented on how small the portions are and they are like tapas style, but in my opinion, I think the portion is comparable with other fine dining restaurants; I have been to other restaurants that serves even smaller portions. One in particular comes to mind is Chez TJ in Mountain View, CA, which has a two star Michilin star rating, and after twelve courses of food, we were still hungry and we paid more money. At least in Gordon's restaurant, we left with our tummy full and content. This restaurant is definitely on our return list, and we might stay at the hotel next time, too.

4th of July L.A. trip - a few destinations

Anyone who is a Heroes fan would recognize this orange/red sculpture that's located at "Kirby Plaza" which is actually Arco Plaza in downtown Los Angeles. It was also shown in Rush Hour 3 and Fun with Dick and Jane. I was surprised to find that it is actually quite smaller than I thought it was; I guess cameras do add quite a few pounds, huh?

A nice view of the library tower in the back ground.


Walt Disney Concert Hall

Inside of the concert hall, this is as far as I could go.
After climbing three flight of stairs (felt like 6) and walked over a wedding party on the third floor, we found this really unique fountain.

Someone made a neat sculpture on the beach next to Santa Monica Pier. I don't know what Burn Notice is, but I think I will check it out.

View from the Santa Monica Farris wheel

4th of July L.A. trip - Vivoli Cafe

For me, a trip to Los Angeles would not be complete without a visit (or two, maybe three) to Vivoli Cafe. This hidden gem located just off the Sunset strip, right across the street from the Crunch gym has the best Italian food I have ever had, and has propelled almost to the top of my favorite restaurants list after my initial visit 2 years ago. I would drive 400 miles to L.A. just for that restaurant, that's how much I love dining there.

I have this free bread test, and my theory is if the restaurant puts in a lot of effort to make a tasty bread that they give out for free, then most likely their food will be pretty good. It doesn't always work, but in this case, my theory was dead on. Vivoli cafe actually serves fresh baked focaccia bread with a minced olive and parsley dip. It is so tasty that most of the time I would fill myself up with the free bread before my main course comes.

Since my boyfriend and I have been here a few times now, we decided to order a few staple dishes and try out a few new items. We started out with their calamari fritti and Prosciutto di Parma e Mozzarella.

The calamari was perfectly cooked! Unlike some restaurant that has a heavy breading, the calamari here has an air light crisp exterior, and the calamari itself is still tender and is perfectly seasoned. It comes with their homemade marinara sauce that is actually warm.

Our next appetizer was the prosciutto with fresh mozzarella with fresh basil on top, sitting on top of a bed of mixed green. I took a slice of prosciutto, wrapped it around the cheese and took a bite. Oh wow.... What a great way to start our lunch! The saltiness from the thin sliced prosciutto, the light, creamy fresh mozzarella cheese, and the freshness from the basil balanced each other out so well. It was so tasty, and I'm ready for my next dish now....

The pastas at this cute little establishment is definitely their strong suit. I have sampled quite a few different pasta dishes here and each and every one of them were terrific!

My absolute favorite is the gnocchi and is a must have when I come here. Vivoli Cafe really spoiled me; I always stayed away from gnocchi because my boyfriend told me they are not that great, he has had it in several restaurants and non of them was to his liking, and this is coming from a guy whose favorite vegetable is potatoes. Against "his" better judgement, I still ordered the gnocchi upon our first visit. I couldn't help it cause the table next to us ordered it and they look so so SO happy! I wanted to know why I'm seeing the deli scene in "When Harry met Sally" again, well... maybe it wasn't that good, but you get my point.

My gnocchi came, I took a bite, and my oh my, if you can taste happiness this is what it must taste like. They are like little pillows of heaven; so soft, so fluffy, so light that they almost melt in your mouth! All my worries in the world have gone away with every bite I take. Ever since that first time, I have been on the search for a restaurant that makes gnocchi like Vivoli Cafe, and so far all the ones that I had were disappointments. The only other gnocchi that I liked was from Thomas Keller's Bouchon Bistro, but it was not a potato gnocchi so I can't really compare the two together.

And to show you how much I love their gnocchi, here is my dish after I was done eating. I wiped it clean! If I was not in public, I would probably pick up the bowl and lick it, that's how good it was!

In my opinion, a successful restaurant not only needs to whip out good food, but they should also provide excellent service; and there were a few occasions where we enjoyed the food but have not returned to the restaurant because of the lack of service they provided. At Vivoli Cafe, the service definitely matched the food. All of the servers I had seems like they are Italian and are either part of the family or is friends with the owner. They are so friendly and every time they come to check up on us, it feels like they are genuinely concern if we like our food and want to make our dining experience the best they can.

I love this restaurant, but I am not so high on their food to say they do not have their down side. First of all, they are hidden away in this little plaza on Sunset, and if you don't look for it, you can easily miss it two or three times, like us. Second, you need to valet park your car. The restaurant did not set up this valet, though, somehow if you're visiting any of the stores in this tiny plaza, someone will valet park your vehicle. It doesn't really make any sense to me, but oh well..... Lastly, the restaurant itself is really small. So far we have not had a problem getting a table, but during busy nights it is possible that you are so close to your neighbors that you can grab food off their plates.

Vivoli Cafe is a friendly place that cooks up authentic Italian food that will make your taste buds jump for joy. It might not be a place for everyone, but for me, I would drive 400 miles just for another taste of their food any day, especially for the gnocchi!

4th of July L.A. trip - Portofino Inn

My boyfriend and I are spontaneous travelers. We tend to make our decision to take a trip, whether it is big or small, on the last minute; the most amount of planning we, er... I mean, I have done for us was when we went vacationing in Beijing earlier this year. So last weekend was no different; we have already decided that since we did a fair amount of traveling this year, we were going to do a staycation. However, on Thursday afternoon when I was able to get us a reservation at Gordon Ramsey at the London in Los Angeles, the decision was made for us, we're going to L.A.!

A quick packing during lunch break, a snap decision on a place to stay, and when the clock hit 4:30pm, Beep! Beep! We were on the road. Traffic was expected, but it was not too bad and we arrived in Burbank, CA in 6 hours.

Let's talk lodging first. I booked the Portofino Inn because of all the great reviews that I read on hotels.com. The price was right for $129.00/night and it is centrally located in Burbank. When we arrived at the place I got worried for a moment cause it looks like a regular motel.

However, the saying of "You can't judge a book by its cover" definitely describes this place. It has a Motel 6 outside and a Marriot inside. The room was spacious with a firm but comfy King size bed. A granite sink top and bathroom, or at least it looks like granite. Instead of a regular TV that you would expect in a motel/inn, you get an LCD flat screen TV that is mounted onto the wall with premium channels; and of course the microwave and mini fridge makes it easy for us to bring back leftovers to satisfy our midnight munchie craving.

As much as I enjoyed my stay there, there were a few drawbacks though. The toilet seems to be leaking a little bit in our room, or my boyfriend just had really bad aim, but he also stepped in some mystery fluids and I don't have the aim issue. :)

The remote for the TV stopped working on the second day, so we had to call the front desk and get someone to switch it out for us. And by the third day I had to bring our room keys to the front desk cause we couldn't get into our rooms and somehow the battery for the smoke detector was missing.

Overall, the pros still outweigh the cons and I would definitely recommend Portofino Inn to anyone who would like a place to stay that is centrally located, clean and comfy, with a good price.

Next up...... my favorite Italian restaurant, Vivoli Cafe, one of L.A.'s best hidden secret, and I mean hidden!

Luck or Karma?

I don't know how many of you believe in either luck or karma, or maybe you're like me, who grew up in a culture where your parents and teachers keep telling you "if you do bad things, bad things will happen to you; if you do good things, good fortune will find you," which makes it hard not to believe in karma. I know logically it does not make any sense, but I do believe in both.

So here's the deal: before the 4th of July weekend I offered a few people a sample of my new item as a thank you for helping me out in the forums. My boyfriend and I then took an impromptu 4th of July trip down to L.A. (more on that later) and I took a break from Etsy and did not come online till Monday.

Next thing you know, I made a sale! I then message another etsy member back and forth a few times and she purchased 4 of my items!!! I also got 12 people hearted my shop the same day... hmmm... what is going on? I did a little investigation and it turns out my Kusudama origami ornament ball was featured on the front page. How cool is that!!! I didn't even get to see it. :(

Luck or Karma? Earl will definitely say it's karma; I made a nice gesture and in return these nice things happened. I could just be lucky though, either way, I'm pretty happy!

To all the etsy sellers that are feeling down right now, keep your chin up, be persistent, keep creating what you love and that day will come for you when you'll feel that it is all worth it! ^_^