enjoy and bon appetit!

V-Lounge (Formerly known as Lush; Santa Monica, CA)
Bar. It was BT’s birthday bash tonight and I felt really bad for Y that the 80s band did not show. Poor guy drove all the way out only to swim awkwardly in the sea of people he did not recognize until about two hours later when we showed up. J and I both had amaretto sours which were $8 and chock full of ice. We hung out with CJ, T+, and Y and then witnessed security excorting BT and him expelling his alcoholic intake for the night on the wall outside and in the dumpster. To top it all off, someone slammed the car door into his fingers as he was getting in for a ride home with his friend. Fun times.

The 6 of us decided to get food and J is the guest writer for the next entry:

BCD Tofu House (K-Town, Los Angeles, CA)
Korean. We ended up here at 2:30 in the a.m. after clubbing it up at V-lounge, and the out-of-tower in the party wanted some tofu for old times sake. W, the experienced tofu-houser, wisely ordered the #6 Dumpling and Beef tofu soup, which came with the works. I ordered the same, because I didn’t have enough time to digest the whole menu and make an informed decision, and W has good taste.

The first thing delivered to our table was a dazzling array of Korean side dishes, including some spicy kimchee, pickles, 2 eggs in the shell (for dunking into the soon tofu), a small cold spicy cabbage soup, (chopped seaweed blob, red-but-not-too-spicy gluten) and (though fewer dishes than other places, here is) the first wonder: a whole fried fish. (it wasn’t big, but on the plate was the entire fish from head to tail was on the plate) See, I am certainly a Westerner, and not accustomed to such things on a plate in front of me at 2:30a.m. So I looked for direction from the others at the table. Let me tell you, they make it look easy! Our utensils were metal chopsticks and a long metal spoon (which reminded me of a bar spoon), and were hard to get used to. They were also kind of flat, like a wooden stir-stick you’d find at Starbucks. Anyways, I ended up with a mouth full of bones the first try. I got better at removing the fish from the bones, but everyone else made it look so easy! The fish was good, flakey but a bit cold (despite sitting under the heat lamp along with a hundred other cousins).

Next, the tofu soup arrived, still boiling and bubbling. I discovered what the eggs were for: your soup! Everyone cracked and dropped the eggs into the soup, and I hoped it was hot enough to cook the egg through. It was a fair bit of juggling this large spoon and the heavy slippery chopsticks to fish out the dumplings and tofu from the soup, without burning yourself on the hot soup. The soup was good, tofu was hot and slippery. The dumplings were good, it was tricky to get a good-sized bite without eating the whole thing at once and burning your mouth! Midway through the soup, I found small bits of beef at the bottom of the bowl. Very small, but good with the tofu. Everyone drank water to cool down from the hot soup. (i end a lot of entries with “i drank water” so this is to poke fun at that. BCD used to serve their rice in a caste iron bowl and the ajuma would stop by at the end of your meal to scrape off the rice stuck at the bottom, and add water to make uh, rice and water. The crisped/ burnt rice is fun to eat. However, BCD now has switched to stainless steel bowls and the said ajuma now comes by to drop off premade rice and water. I want to point out to my sister that about 20 years ago, i got shunned for putting water in my rice. little did she know that a whole nation follows my trends. i am just kidding)

For lunch, the other branches of the family stopped by. J’s cousin made some bitter Greyhounds, which were made with (Evolution brand) grapefruit juice + absolut vodka.
We quickly switched to mimosas, which were made with (Cook’s extra dry) champagne + Simply Orange orange juice.

For snacks, there were smoked salmon + cream cheese + mini bagels on the table, and Mrs. S recommended me to try her candied macadamia nuts.

When it was time, everyone gathered around the table buffet style, featuring ham, mediterranean vegetarian appetizers, fruit salad, green salad, and polenta.

I had a gluttonous slice of chocolate chip cheesecake ala mode with warm caramel apple slices, and a piece of brownie.

12/24 To everyone’s surprise, we were able to make dinner in San Clemente (poor poor J ). We went to his grandparents’ place, where his eccentric uncle & aunt cooked and even more eccentric friends gathered. I had a glass of Haven’s 2002 bourriquot. I’ve never tried bourriquot before but I like it. I also had some Pelligrino and champagne.

J’s Uncle E made paella with manila clams, clams, jumbo shrimp, chicken, sausage, green peas and spanish rice. Nobody touched the lobster in the middle. J’s immediate family didn’t seem to like the paella although it tasted fine to me. Maybe it’s too “international” but I didn’t dare to come out of the paella closet and say that it tasted fine. A fine psychology example of Group Think. Although I didn’t eat much, I wasn’t very hungry either.

my coworkers gave me Godiva raspberry chocolate?, homemade Pfeffernüsse and Mama Bear’s almond crackle.

Sapori Ristorante Italiano (Newport Beach, CA)
Italian. J’sGL treated her family and me to dinner tonight. The bread basket provided us strips of foccacia and slices of baguette, which we dressed in vinegar+olive oil. J and I shared a Caesar salad (Suspect #2A – Suspect #2B is the spaghetti). J got the stomach flu from one of these. I got the Penne otero – which is the chef’s signature dish! Priced just like everything else. So why not? It’s penne in a tomato cream sauce with fresh tarragon, bits of bacon, and vodka. For some reason I thought tarragon was some sort of dried fish or fowl but I was wrong on both accounts. To go with our entrees, GL ordered a bottle of pinot noir, which appeared on our table inside a bottle of Wild Horse 2006. i’m really relieved that J’s family is nice. I didn’t take any pictures since I want to exude whatever class I can muster hahaha just kidding.