Eating Los Angeles

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO800
“Yummy Eggs” Los Angeles, 2019

Today we had a bit of an excursion up to Los Angeles, for some eating, with a little shopping thrown in. First up was République Café and Bakery where we had This Morning’s Bread, Smoked Salmon Benedict, and a number of different coffees. The food was delicious, and the restaurant was really cool. I had never heard of République before, but it’s apparently very popular – I saw many selfies being taken there.

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO1250
“Okinawan Latte” Los Angeles, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/4, 1/125 sec, ISO1250
“République” Los Angeles, 2019

After République, we did some shopping at The Last Bookstore in downtown, then drove back over to Korea Town for some Korean barbecue at Song Hak. The meat was so yummy and tender. The side dishes were also delicious and the soju hit the spot. I definitely recommend Song Hak!

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO250
“Song Hak” Los Angeles, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO2500
“Meat Plate” Los Angeles, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO2000
“Korean BBQ” Los Angeles, 2019

To close out our day in Los Angeles, we stopped by world famous Randy’s Donuts to pick up some dessert. Even though I grew up in SoCal, I had never been to Randy’s, so this was a special treat. Unfortunately, I thought the donuts weren’t very good. Our matcha donuts didn’t taste like matcha at all, and my churro-topped donut was a bit stale. I’m guessing since it was evening, the donuts weren’t as good, but still, it was pretty busy so I would have thought they’d be a bit fresher. I’m happy to finally try Randy’s, though!

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/4, 1/75 sec, ISO3200

Spending the afternoon and evening with family eating out was fun and we had a lot of laughs. Exactly what a family outing should be like. 😄

Christmas Morning Bagels

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/5.6, 1/125 sec, ISO5000
“Bagel Brunch” Torrance, 2019

Christmas morning means opening gifts, but in our family, it also means eating bagels, rye bread, cream cheese, salmon, pastrami, corned beef, roast beef, pesto, and cheese. And this year we also has some roast lamb, which was awesome!

The Xmas bagel tradition started when my aunt and uncle from the Bay Area brought down bagels and fixings from their friend’s deli back in the 80s, and we’ve done it every year since. This year, my aunt joined us for the celebration which made 2019 extra-special! ❤️

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/4, 1/4 sec, ISO200
“Group Photo” Torrance, 2019

I hope you had a nice holiday!

Katsu at Kagura

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/4, 1/100 sec, ISO1600
“Katsu Lunch” Gardena, 2019

Mariko and I tried Kagura, a katsu restaurant, for lunch today, and it was delicious! The pork cutlet, chicken, and croquette had a crunchy panko breading and were cooked to perfection… the meat was tender and juicy. Kagura has a couple of locations in Southern California, but we went to the small food-court location inside Tokyo Central market in Gardena. A good lunch option, and should be quicker than the other locations. Give it a try!

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/3.2, 1/100 sec, ISO1250
“Katsu Lunch” Gardena, 2019

CoCo Curry

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/4, 1/80 sec, ISO6400
“Curry Lunch” Torrance, 2019

Hello! So, we were planning on getting curry at CoCo Ichibanya the night we arrived in California, but when we went, they said they weren’t taking any more customers because something in the kitchen had broken down and they couldn’t keep up with the orders. So… today we went for lunchtime curry. It was yummy!

You might know that at CoCo you specify the level of spiciness, and I always get the maximum (10). It was honestly not as spicy as usual, but still great. The rest of the family got levels 2, 2, and 5… maybe someday they’ll up their game. 😆

I love our curry tradition when we visit my folks for the holidays. It’s something we look forward to every year.

Travel Day

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/5, 1/125 sec, ISO500
“At the Airport” Austin, 2019

We’re on our way to Southern California for the holidays! Just a few photos for today’s post. It’s time to get some serious reading done on the plane.😊

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/100 sec, ISO6400
“Cockpit View” Austin, 2019
Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 23mm, f/2.8, 1/125 sec, ISO1600
“Airport Sunset” Austin, 2019

Star Wars Episode IX – Movie Review

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/2, 1/125 sec, ISO5000
“Episode IX Display” Austin, 2019

Tonight I went with my two sons to see the 1:25 am showing of Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. It was a late showing (Sunday morning actually) because we didn’t think to get the tickets earlier, however it worked out okay for me because I had a mild migraine in the afternoon so I slept from 3 pm until 11 pm and was well-awake to see that late-night show.

*********** SPOILER ALERT ************

I enjoyed Episode IX a lot and thought it was great! I’m in the camp that thought The Last Jedi was an okay movie, but had some really cringey scenes. And when I saw “THE DEAD SPEAK!” come up on the screen for the final movie, I literally rolled my eyes and was prepared for the worst.

But I was pleasantly surprised and pleased with the story, pacing, action, dialog, and humor of the movie. There was plenty of fan-service of course, and the plot wasn’t very complex, but all-in-all it was a satisfying end to the Skywalker saga for me.

One thing I liked about the JJ Abrams movies was the quick bits of humor that were thrown in. For instance, in Episode IX when Ben Solo lands hard after jumping from a high surface, he lets out a little, “Ow” which I thought was brilliant. In the same vein, when Finn is rescued from the Rathtar by Rey in Episode VII, she just says, “That was lucky!” and the scene moves on, without skipping a beat. I loved those types of lines! In contrast, in Episode VIII, Poe’s “can you hear me?” scene with Hux was only mildy funny to begin with, but went on for far too long, and to me it was really lame that a huge part of their battle strategy was based on a silly Verizon joke.

Anyways, just like with Episode VII, I’m ready to see The Rise of Skywalker again on the big screen. And I usually enjoy the second viewings more than the first so I really looking forward to it.

Photo info: FUJIFILM X100T, 19mm, f/2, 1/125 sec, ISO500
“Episode IX” Austin, 2019