Seattle LIbrary

I am such a library geek.

Malibu and more

After having had our fill of Disney and Anaheim, we moved over to the beach for some


clam strips and fries

fish and chips

at the super casual Malibu Seafood

The Getty Villa, modeled after the Villa dei Papiri in Italy

On our last day, we breakfasted at Cora's Coffee Shoppe on a cheddar and prosciutto omelette, and orange pancakes with fresh blueberries.

Followed by a stroll around the Santa Monica pier to walk off breakfast, before climbing back in the car for the long drive back home. This time E.L. Doctorow's Ragtime entertained me on the road, where we passed tens of thousands of cows, cows, cows (even with the windows up and the vents closed, their smell managed to seep into the car).

Malibu Seafood Fresh Fish Market and Patio Café
25653 Pacific Coast Hwy
Malibu, CA 90265

Cora's Coffee Shoppe
1802 Ocean Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90401

A (Southern) California Adventure I

The 6+ hour drive to Los Angeles was often straight and very flat and pretty boring. When it wasn't my turn to drive, I did some reading using the Stanza app on the iPod Touch, reading E Nesbit's Five Children and It.

We hit the usual LA spots - driving through a residential area and tada... the Hollywood sign.

The very packed and very touristy Hollywood Boulevard and its famous landmark (which we drove past).

We had a late brunch at Home in Los Feliz (no pics though). A pretty good crab cakes benedict (ie the poached eggs sit on crab cakes) and some beef hash. The neighbourhood library was holding a little sale and I snagged my very own copy of 84, Charing Cross Road for a mere 25 cents. After driving around Laurel Canyon and Beverly Hills and then to Rodeo Drive, we had a hearty dinner of Korean food at BCD Tofu House.

California Adventure - more fun than I expected!

The incredibly deceptive ferris wheel, in which some of the cars swing as the wheel turns.

The Hollywood Tower of Terror, from a Bug's point of view

Home
1760 Hillhurst Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90027

BCD Tofu House
3575 Wilshire Boulevard
Los Angeles, CA 90010

Saying goodbye at airports

With long security queues, especially with idiots in front who manage to lug along more than their fair share of bags and pack many questionable items, the need to enter the 'passengers only' section of the airport early is becoming more important. And that cuts down on the goodbye time at the airport. I already hate flying so I'm kinda queasy and uncomfortable at the thought of spending 11+ hours, and another 7+ hours on the plane. And there's the other horrible fact that I have to say goodbye to this amazing man with whom I had a measly three weeks with. I don't want to say goodbye, but I have to. We sit on those tacky plastic seats, I try not to cry, but fail miserably. San Francisco's airport, at least, has space to sit down, unlike Chicago, and is not packed, unlike Heathrow. You'd think I'd be used to all this by now, since in our nearly two-year relationship, we've had too many airport goodbyes. It never gets easier. It's always awful.

Hello San Francisco

It's been an amazing first weekend in San Francisco.



I had my first In-N-Out burger - a double-double and those awesome freshly cut fries! We finally have a fast food place we can agree on - mostly cos I don't eat fast food. But In-N-Out is about fresh fast food, so the hamburger doesn't give me that horrible plasticky feeling that the usual suspects provide.



I had a lovely (although very dense) French toast with caramelised apples at the cheery Rose's Cafe on Union Street, where lattes come in bowls you cradle in your palms - perfect for a cold day.



We headed north to Sausalito, where expansive views result in expensive houses (although this one's a restaurant).

Hong Kong

I wrote this on Friday in Hong Kong:

It's been an interesting and exhausting week here in Hong Kong. We've been working ever since we landed on Friday afternoon, a week ago. And there's one more day of work left. It's Friday evening and I'm here in my little oasis of calm, ie the hotel room. It's pretty tiny, decent enough for just me, but for two people (it's a double room) it will be a tight squeeze. Thank goodness my colleague and I got individual rooms despite the very low perdiem of just $200 a day (including accommodations). The hotel (Stanford Hotel) is in Mongkok, and the moment you step out of the MTR station, it's madness. Middle-aged women hand out brochures, schoolkids chatter, music blares, lights flicker, it's a never-ending assault on the senses. And of course, battling the crowds is another horror. I've never seen a day when it's not crowded - not Monday, not Tuesday... not any day. Thankfully, this hotel is on the quiet end of Soy Street.

We've eaten at many of the cha chaan tengs around here, and although my colleague is vegetarian, she's managed to get some pretty decent vegetarian dishes.


Fish congee for dinner


Macaroni with luncheon meat, almond milk for brunch

I am quite fond of meat, as you can guess, but I do have my limit, and after a couple of days of noodles with beef, or macaroni with luncheon meat or roast meat rice, it was a bit too much for me, and I have started ordering a plate of veg (you cai) quite regularly. While I am fond of eating as the locals do, I did get cravings for non-local food and we've eaten at California Pizza Kitchen (it's nearby), Dan Ryans (er yeah),


Rice Paper (a Vietnamese restaurant) and Itamae Sushi. And I must say, I enjoyed the change, especially the sushi. It's the conveyor belt sushi chain but the variety of fish available beats Singapore hands down - I had

whelk,

salt saury and

foie gras sushi, as well as some scallop and salmon for just HK$99. There are branches everywhere but I ate at the one at Festival Walk in Kowloon Tong (just one stop after Mongkok East and was less crowded than other malls).

Onto the work bit, we've been doing interviews as part of a research project, talking to all kinds of people in the arts/creative industry and this job in HK has allowed me to see parts of HK I'd never see as a tourist, I guess. Such as heading up to the New Territories (Fotan), Kowloon Tong, Lok Fu. Very residential/industrial areas. I've also hit Wanchai several days in a row, and fond some really good lunch deals at the Hong Kong Arts Centre's Pumpernickel Cafe, where a soup, vegetable lasagne and coffee/tea goes for just $65.

They also do a nice juicy burger with some great potato wedges. The only things is that it gets very crowded at lunch time (especially after 1230) so either go early or make a reservation.

I got a bit fond of the Tai Yau building, as it offered two cafes for a good rest in between interviews at Wanchai. One was Pacific Coffee and the other, the Suzuki Cafe.


We've also hit Hui Lau Shan a couple of times, mostly cos it's convenient. And both times I've had the mango pudding (with mango ice-cream) in mango juice with extra mango. Despite the cold weather, it's a great pick-me-up.


Steamed milk and egg custard at a dessert shop in Jordan (Parkes Street).

(the menu)



On Saturday, we ate at the 'farmhouse style' Japanese restaurant at Miramar shopping centre.

And for our last Hong Kong meal, dimsum for a leisurely Sunday lunch. We checked out at 11 and headed to Miramar again, where we had made a reservation the night before at Hakka Hut.
I had eaten there the last time I was in Hong Kong (a few years ago), and remembered their 'premium siew mai'.

Siew mai


Our seven dishes (including that really good char siew bao) came to just HK$139 (about S$26).


The thing is, it's been such a tiring trip that at the end of the day, all I want to do is eat something nearby, avoid the crowds and hide in my room and watch TV. Don't get me wrong though, I do like Hong Kong. I think I have greater respect for people in HK, especially those I have met. Their passion and interest in the arts is so strong. And while they might hold full-time jobs, they do their art-related work - whether it is organising events, working for arts organisations or creating art - after work or on the weekends. It was definitely an eye-opener.

Off to Hong Kong

I'm off to Hong Kong for work for 10 days, but it's no picnic. Right off the plane tomorrow, we've got an interview at 7pm, then a full day of work during the weekend, which continues all the way till the next Saturday. 3-4 interviews a day and partial attendance at a 3-day conference.

Hopefully there'll be time in before, between and after for a spot of shopping and of course, good eats!

Taking stock 2007

It's been a long year.

It's been a good year. I got my Masters, I bid farewell to my room with a view and to falling asleep to the sound of waves crashing (and to waking up at 3am to the sound of bottles breaking or drunken louts yelling), and I came back to find that so much had changed (was I thinking that the whole world would stand still while I went off to do my thing?). I started a new job that enabled me to use some of what I learnt at school and learn some more, with a nice boss whose only kink is 24/7 Blackberry-ing. It took me a while to get used to that gaping hole at Scotts and the new massive developments all around. It took me a while also to get used to the weather but the constant rain has been pretty welcome. When I came back, I went into recluse mode for a while, because I didn't know what I was doing here (I still don't but I've decided to not let that bother me for now) and I turned down various invitations to things and haven't yet met up with some friends. But recently I've been forcing myself to get out more, although I still cherish my daily loner routine of my favourite sport - reading.

It will be a good year (for travelling at least). I haven't seen R since June, but having used Northwest's (bleh) early bird special to pick up a cheap-ish flight to SF, I'll be there for 3 weeks in Feb - and hopefully see my sister too. And in January, I'll be in Hong Kong for 9 nights for work - but it's starting to sound like a packed schedule with interviews planned for the very day we land. But if anyone has any good eats (or other travel tips) for SF and HK, let me know (and no, I don't really like krispy kreme, and can't really afford the French Laundry right now, but I do have my eye on Chez Panisse).

I hope you've had a good year and may 2008 be a great one. Happy holidays. Happy eating.

The Lake District

It's inspired William Wordsworth and Beatrix Potter, who both lived in different parts of the district and wrote many of their works there. And I had the good fortune to spend two nights there, although the first day was a wash out, as it rained nearly the whole day until finally ending the drip drip dripping around 5pm. However, we didn't have much time so we got out and drove around all the same.

We drove through Rydal to Grasmere, which was home to Wordsworth.

He lived in the lovely Dove Cottage.

And although we were obviously in the wrong season for daffodils, Wordsworth is probably most famous for his poem, reportedly inspired by Ullswater:
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Some other places we visted include:

The Castlerigg Stone Circle near Keswick (pronounced with a silent 'w')


We drove around the Buttermede Fell area and through many winding steep roads.


And what's a blog entry on the Lake District without a picture of a lake. I can'tremember which this is unfortunately!!

And stayed at

Newstead Bed and Breakfast in Windermere - gorgeous!


The English breakfast.
You get your fruits, juice and cereal from the sideboard and then order your cooked breakfast with Joyce. I got the scrambled eggs on toast the second morning. Such fluffy yellow scrambled eggs! Delicious!

And on our last night, a gorgeous dinner at Jerichos, just a 10-minute walk from the B&B. We had attempted to get a table the night before, but being Saturday, they were full. We called to book Sunday just in case. And we rewarded with a lovely spread, and an interesting view of the open kitchen, which had a bookshelf above (didn't get a good photo though).


Started out with some rosemary bread - warm and crisp on the outside, soft on the inside. And shared a refreshing and generously portioned smoked salmon salad.


I went for the lamb - so tender, and perfectly pink. It sat on a bed of vegetables that I later found out included samphire, which has this great crunch and seaweed-like taste.


I also have to mention my parents' steak, which came with the crisp-est chips I've ever ever had. Just couldn't stop grabbing them.

A great finish to the Lake District leg of the trip.