A Sunday Kinda Saturday

It's been one hell of a good week and sleeping in today was just the cherry on top.  I decided to not be so lazy this morning and actually make something extra noms to eat.

There are few sins I find more unforgivable than a badly poached egg. So while I'm rarely that painstaking patron that sends back food due to minor details, if I order eggs Benedict and get a hard boiled egg on top of a tomato, that sucker is going back. 

Brunch today included applewood smoked bacon, poached eggs (topped w/ garlic leaves) over smoked salmon and heirloom tomatoes.  My only regret was not drizzling truffle oil over the tomatoes and using black truffle salt on the egg.  C'est la vie, it was still yummy in my tummy.

I've been quite the bad blogger because crossfit, work and travel have been consuming me this past month.  Here are some birthmonth highlights to get you caught up. 

- Broke a PR for my deadlift 215lbs (this was an epic day)

- Got Diablo 3

- Intervention at the Hard Rock Hotel, seeing Tiesto and celebrating the b.day w/ the girls WAS AMAZEBALLS (photo)

- Spent the birthday week in Canada 

- Celebrated w/ a Cuban (Cohiba)

- ZOMG THOR >_<

- I was indicted as an honorary cowboy by a bonafide asian cowboy

May was a good month, as always. 

<3 chow

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Summer Love

To me, love and noms are one and the same >_<.

I'm not quite sure if it's the weather, type of days or just a yearning to be by the water, but I've spent the past few months longing for summer.

Of course, the best thing about any season, are the good eats.

Chicken paillard, greens and hordes of fish. Not gonna lie, after a 30pc set of sashimi, we're done on fish for quite a while.

Cheers!!!!

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Aging Younger

It's funny how different the world looks waking up at 4am, as opposed to how it does when going to bed at 4am.

It was an incredibly early flight out of San Diego on Thursday, and while I hate waking up just a few hours after going to bed, I like arriving at my destination with a full day ahead.

Like New Years, birthdays are another time that I begin a drawn out, week long session of self evaluation. What did I accomplish? How much have I learned? Did I do enough personal art? Yada yada yada.. Because for some reason, it seems like many of us take better comfort in aging, when there are various senses of accomplishment.

When I exited my 20s and entered the so called "dreaded 30s" I think my biggest fear was the same fear I had leaving my teens. That some how aging involved casting away the carefree spirit and embracing some sort of adulthood conformity.

What I can say about that is, after years of playing video games with other adults, quite a few nerf gun wars, happy hours and work events, and still "playing outside" with some of the same friends from decades ago (now we can take airplanes to our favorite playgrounds), those of us that were born carefree spirits will most likely remain that way till we die.

So here it is, another year older and I'm actually stoked about how much this past year has brought me and what may be to come.

Professionally I'm so lucky to get to work in a field I love, work with other talented designers who can school me on new things and consistently meet cool clients.

Physically thanks to crossfit, I'm stronger than I ever was in my 20s (though that could be attributed to many good nights out and lack of sleep).

More than anything, I think what's the best about aging is growing a good sense of self. Having the cojones to pick and choose what you want to do and who you want to be, without regard to nay sayers is an amazeballs feeling of freedom.

So cheers and <3 to the friends/readers/facebookers/tweeters for all the awesome birthday wishes.

It was a great night of food, laughs, sports/gaming talk and even a bit of chow roasting.

Ps
I usually don't post quoted text, but the block below is something a friend sent to me a while back, when I was having a night whining session about how tragically mediocre my skills were and how I feared becoming obsolete >_< it's hilarious looking back now, but we all have moments of weakness.

My favorite line "create something beautiful, then destroy it.".
________________

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Beautiful Seattle: Postcards

I'm currently at the beach just enjoying the weekend and I'm now determined to spend this summer by the water.

My bud and I just looked at eachother and said "we should totally do this more often."

Reflecting back, while sorting through pictures, I've realized that Seattle has quickly become one of my most favorite cities to frequently visit.

Water, noms, Moscow mules, truffle everything and wine, adventures exploring different neighborhoods and of course good company, all made for an amazing weekend trip.

I miss thre city and the people already. Next stop it's making my way up north. First LA then Canada.

<3 chow

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Roadtrip Postcards

  

It's 2am, I'm about 90% packed and although I should be getting ready for bed, I just couldn't leave on another trip, without taking a look back at last weekend's epic road trip.

One of my good pal's invited me up to join him on a road trip to....a few surprise locations.  I was given no details, except for what to pack and an estimation of how long we'd be gone for.

Night 1 started catching up, getting a feel for his bachelor's pad, dinner and then a drive up the 101, to meet up with his friend at his adorably chic and cozy home in Woodland Hills (beautiful neighborhoods).  We then spent the night talking, laughing, doing pushups/situps, loving his adorable pups/kitty and I stayed up pretty late watching videos and sorting through photos.



Day 2 started with yummy coffee then breakfast at Denny's.  Little did I know that Denny's would become the theme to this trip and that I would eat there more than once in a 24 hour period. Then a long drive up north to Porterville.

Highlights from Porterville:
- Eating at Panda Express and Denny's in the same day.. never again!
- Our hotel has a "luxe" spa called "Doraleens, where you could get your body detailed and sit in a Hyper Baric chamber." Because in Porterville, you need that alone time.



- attending a quaint wedding outside where the ceremony lasted less than 10 minutes, and the theme was Burning Man.  Everyone had a blast, and I love how casual and effortless it was.
- Hot tub action and having a grandpa tell me I looked like a "nice lady" and had a nice sarong, in front of his wife and grand-kids.
- Eating at Denny's once again for breakfast.
- Driving home and somehow managing to pass out for 3 hours.



So yes, if my friend had told me we were heading to Porterville, there's a good chance I would have bailed, but that's the nice thing about being spontaneous... you never really know what's gonna happen or how much fun you'll have.

I'm off to Seattle, one of my favorite cities to eat in.  As always, back blogged, but lots of amazing things to post on, food from my Calgary trip, meeting with my professor for wine and laughs and more.


<3
Chow.

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Heartbreaker Movie Night - L'arnacoeur

 

I remember sitting in a late night film class, quite a few years ago, listening to my French professor passionately profess his detest for modern day films, especially romantic comedies.

He believed that there was this essence of true romance missing from them and that most films are made like porn, lacking in story, completely formulaic and everything based on one climactic moment.  I can't say I disagree.

I've always had an issue with the genre name "romantic comedy" because 97% of the movies are neither funny or that romantic.  But every so often a brilliant movie does a beautiful job of capturing the deep complexities, subtle gestures and the welcomed  utter agonies of truly being in love.

A friend introduced me to "Heartbreaker/L'arnacoeur" and it will be one of those movies that I'll watch many times through this lifetime, just like "Love Actually."  I laughed through the entire movie, was taken away by the beautiful landscapes and scenes, and just fell in love with how charming the whole story was portrayed.

It was the perfect movie for a night of R&R for the knee.  There's a million things to do and I'm constantly in this "go alpha go" mode, but I've been slowing things down a bit and just trying to enjoy the simple moments as they come.  <3

I'll be posting pictures from this last weekend's epic adventures and getting ready to take off again to another city.  I seriously can't wait for summer.

<3 chow.

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Runaway Train in the Rain

It feels like forever since Santa Barbara, which is just a testament to how much I miss it and what an amazing weekend it was.

It's hard to believe that just a few hours, roads and pit stops ago, I was in San Diego finishing up taxes and packing up to leave town.

I mentioned in a previous post, that I was in need of more spontaneity in my life.

This weekend is one of those shotgun pack up and go adventures. I started the day clueless because my friend decided to surprise me and as this trip unfolds we find ourselves further up the 101, stopping for good eats and now in a beautifully decorated cozy home, with great conversation.

I still don't know all the details but I hear a wedding, some costumes and another road trip is in order.

Charging the camera battery so lots of photos will be taken to capture this Weekend's adventures.

While I'm starting to yearn for summer to kick in, I do love the rain.

Cheers and here's to a kickass one!
Avengers Assemble! >_<
<3
Chow

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Pitstop at Prep Kitchen

This was one of those places that I just wanted to love so bad! In fact upon walking in, smelling the food, seeing potted herbs on the window sills, and absorbing the amazing ambiance, I totally had high hopes.

While the food wasn't bad at all, it just wasn't completely spectacular.  The pork belly and Mary's Chicken were pretty good, but the mussels were kind of fishy and average (Au Revoir's mussels are amazeballs), the fries were also just ok and the soup sounded better than it was.

What I did love about this restaurant though was the type of people who worked there.  They were cool, charming, laid back and just had such a positive attitude and a love for food. I told our server my thoughts on the food and they were kind enough to offer us a free dessert if we ever came back.  I'll give it another shot and reassess my review.

Life's been busy with work and this damned knee injury.  I'm looking forward to a weekend trip to L.A then it's off to Seattle. I took a moment to look at my Santa Barbara trip again and man that weekend was just so magical.

<3 chow.

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Postcards from Santa Barbara

From the day I was able to get behind the wheel, I fell in love with driving and going distances for the sake of adventure was always half the fun. 

I've always found that the things you see, the songs you hear, the conversations that take place and even the scent/feeling of the air when the windows are down, all create this magnificent experience and add to the story of the trip.  Some of the biggest fat cramp inducing laughs, friendship bonding and epic karaoke moments, took place in a car, while ignoring everyone else's expressions of misery in traffic.

I just got home not too long ago, and I'm so glad I brought my camera with me on this trip.  These pictures do not do the monumental cliffs along the coast of the 101 justice, or the view of M's magic house in the mountains, but they do make me warm and fuzzy as I'm curled up in bed, closing out the final hours of this weekend. 

 Each bend just revealed more of the beautiful coast, trees and cliffs.

A thoughtful gift from M. I adore that she's sentimental! <3 

More weekend trips are definitely in the books for this next coming month.

I hope everyone had a great weekend! You may hate me for saying this, but I hope it continues to rain all week <3.

Reading then TKO time.
Chow.

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