A Trip Is Not A Trip Without A Foodie Adventure

Two weeks ago, I went down to LA for a quick trip, a trip that was quicker than I thought, but that's OK.

One of my main goals for this trip was to eat at new places. We'e been to LA a bunch of times over the past years, and we just kept eating at the same places because they were too good (hi, Daikokuya and Toe Bang). And? Mission accomplished. Of course, I couldn't skip out on getting Horchata boba from Boba 7 though. It's just way too damn good.

FAIRFAX, ORANGE JUICE, SLUT
eggslut // Los Angeles, CA

First up was eggslut. I saw this place on an episode of Best Ever on Foot Network. I looked it up on Yelp and knew it had to be on the list. Apparently, their lines can get very long, but luckily, it wasn't too bad when we went. And... YUM.

On the left is Fairfax, which is soft scrambled eggs and chives, cheddar cheese, caramelized onions and sriracha mayo in a house-made buttermilk biscuit (instead of a brioche bun) with bacon added.

On the right is one of their specialities, Slut, which is a coddled egg on top of a smooth potato purée, poached in a glass jar, served with a demi baguette.

And of course, we had to have orange juice. I'm not a huge breakfast fan, but this is definitely on the top of the list.

PORTOBELLO FRIES, LOBSTER NAGE, CLAM LINGUINI
Bottega Louie // Los Angeles, CA

Next, we had Bottega Louie. I heard about this place before and saw that they were one of the top rated places in Yelp - 4 stars in 10.5k reviews. Little did I know, it was RIGHT next to Boba 7. Passing by, you can't really tell it's Bottega Louie unless you really look up at the sign.

We had the portobello fries, served with aioli, and the lobster nage soup, which has a piece of poached Maine lobster, cauliflower panna cotta, golden raisins, and roasted almonds.

For our entree, we had the clam linguini with manilla clams, cockles, white wine, shallots, garlic, red chili pepper, fleur de sel, lemon, and extra virgin olive oil.

PISTACHIO, EARL GREY, STRAWBERRY, BANANA FOSTER MACARONS
Bottega Louie // Los Angeles, CA

Bottega Louie's house special dessert is the chocolate souffle, but knowing that there were macarons AND we were getting Boba 7 after, I decided to skip out on it.

Their smallest box only comes in five flavors, so I picked up pistachio (Sicilian pistachios & white chocolate ganache), earl grey (earl grey infused milk chocolate ganache), strawberry (strawberry buttercream & candied strawberries), and two banana fosters (fresh banana ganache with caramelized chocolate and dark rum), which was the special flavor of the month. Definitely the best macarons I've ever had!

APPLE MINT LEMONADE, SPICY SALMON RICE BOWL, CHICKEN PLATE
YUKO KITCHEN // Los Angeles, CA

The next day, we went to YUKO KITCHEN. I honestly don't remember how I came across this place -- I might've been craving for some sort of poke, saw it on Yelp and bookmarked it. But oh my, this place was SO good. It was a little confusing on how to get in -- another customer who was trying to get in were just as confused as us. There was patio seating all around (SO CUTE, by the way!), and the door just wasn't very obvious that it was the front -- it seemed like it could've been a backdoor for employees.

I had the spicy salmon rice bowl with spicy salmon, smelt eggs, cucumber, raddish, green onion, rice and greens. ABSOLUTELY loved it.

The chicken plate is a "special plate," which has teriyaki chicken, rice, four pieces of spicy salmon roll, green salad, shot of tomato bisque (soup of the day), and a mini dessert. The mini dessert had three pieces of cookies, including green tea strawberry, which was cold, served with whip cream. YUM!

We also noticed a few people getting this green slushy drink. Curious, we asked them what it was and it turns out it was their mint lemonade, which also comes in an apple flavor (fresh lemonade, fresh mint leaf, apple, and crushed ice). It was so, so refreshing and perfect for a hot summer day.

ROCKY ROAD, CHOCOLATE-COVERED BANANA, BANANA SPLIT, WHITE CHOCOLATE MACADAMIA COOKIES
Milk Jar Cookies // Los Angeles, CA

Our last stop was Milk Jar Cookies, which happened to be right around the corner of YUKO KITCHEN. The place was also totally adorable. I read on Yelp that the banana split was a must-have, and I just love anything banana (real bananas, of course -- artificial banana flavor is gross).

We got the banana split, chocolate covered banana, rocky road, chocolate chip, and white chocolate chip macadamia. They're thick, but I loved how they have banana flavors -- not your typical cookies. (Anthony's Cookies still the top in my book).

Overall, I'd say this was a very successful foodie adventure. Because the trip was so short, I am looking forward to next time so I can try some of those places I missed (e.g., Eight Korean BBQ, Churros Calientes, Bossa Nova, and more!). Until next time, LA.

"WE GONNA BE CHAMPIONSHIP"

When Golden State Warriors guard Leandro Barbosa said those words on TV on March 21, I cringed a little. Mainly because I'm pretty superstitious, and I, in no way, wanted that to jinx the Warriors in winning their first championship in 40 years.

Three months later, here we are. "WE ARE CHAMPIONSHIP." WHO KNEW? Who knew that THIS season would play out like it did? I mean, I was fairly certain and was hopeful that we would do better than previous seasons. As the season started, I thought it was nice to be on the top half of the seeding for once - not battling in the bottom, hoping for that final playoff spot. Then, these wins kept happening, with a bunch of blow-outs here and there. Next thing you know, the Warriors were the running away with the top seed of the conference, and then before you know it, they won home court advantage for the entire playoffs.

Admittedly, I was a little afraid. I mean, you can be at the top, but all it takes is losing one game too many, and that's it -- you have to start all over the next season. Like many fans, I was worried when they were down two against Memphis Grizzlies in the semi-conference finals. It was even scarier when they were down two games against the Cleveland Cavaliers in the finals, especially when they were all nail-biters to begin with.

I was in LA during the game six, so we decided to go to Yard House in downtown to watch it. There were ups and downs throughout the game, mainly ups. The last few minutes though? I could not even handle it. JR Smith kept making those three's, and I was thinking, can they really do this? Can the Cavs really steal this game and force a game seven? THANKFULLY, they didn't. As clock was winding down and the final buzzer finally went off, I'll admit that there were some tears. I just couldn't be prouder of these guys. It has been such a wild ride, and I truly love this team and everyone in it. It was magical.

Originally, I had planned on staying in LA until Friday or Saturday, but I knew I had to cut the trip short for the parade. I attended all three San Francisco Giants parades. How could I miss THIS one? There was just no way. And we didn't only sacrifice our trip, but we sacrificed our sleep. We barely got 2-3 hours sleep the day before, right after driving back from LA. We left around 5am, and waited until they finally appeared on stage a little past noon. Of all the speeches by non-players/coach, I enjoyed general manager Bob Myers' the best. What he said was very relevant, and made him extremely likable.

I think part of why this season was so magical and special, aside from winning it all, was who was on the team that won it all. Each one of them have their own personalities and I think #DubNation fell in love with that. I'm sure many non-Warriors fans despise Draymond Green like how I despise some players on other teams, but us Warriors fans LOVE him for his heart and passion. And of course, we can't forget the royal NBA family that the Currys have become. So when we saw them on stage giving their speeches, we couldn't help but be filled with joy that we get to get a happy farewell to this magical season in the way we know and love this team, and with so many fellow fans. 

Back to being how superstitious I can be -- every mention of possibly winning, or needing to win, I had to knock on wood. And I didn't dare to wash the "Strength in Numbers" shirt. We watched three games together in San Francisco, and they lost them all, which meant we couldn't watch them together there. And hey, as they say, it's only weird if it doesn't work.

There was no doubt that we were going to go to at least one of the playoff games, especially because we went to one for each of the last two seasons. What I didn't expect was to go to four games. The first one was a no-brainer. The second one, we HAD to go and experience and be part of the crazy because New Orleans Pelicans coach Monty Williams made a comment about the Oracle and how loud it was. I knew right away that the #DubNation could've been way louder, so I just had to go. 

After that, we figured that was it for the season -- I mean, these tickets aren't cheap if you didn't get them for free or weren't a season ticket holder and I was in neither of those categories. The day before game one in the Grizzlies series, I was just looking at tickets, just curious how much they were going for. Then it happened. I found tickets that were actually very reasonable, especially for the location of the seats. That became the third game of these playoffs for us. Just. Can't. Help. It.

We decided to skip the Houston Rockets series because we wanted to save up for the finals. And I mean, really, were we really going to let THAT one beat us into going to the finals? Nope. Game one came, and my oh my, the prices were STEEP. We decided to skip out on it because we just couldn't afford it and it didn't make sense to spend that much.

Then the next game, I looked again, hoping and hoping. When I finally saw tickets that were as close to my limit as it was going to get, I was like OK, if this order goes through, it was meant to be. And, well, I guess it was meant to be. Sadly, that was the game we lost. But since we won it all, it was awesome knowing that I experienced part of the run. I distinctly remember this Cavs fan yelled out to one of the Warriors fans buying merchandise outside the arena after the game, "DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY. YOU WON'T NEED THOSE THIS YEAR!" And to that fan? I say, HA. :)

Now that it's all over, and as much as I love basketball and the Warriors, it is going to be nice to take a break from all this intensity endured during the last two months. And to that, I end this blog post with: #WEEARECHAMPIONS. We ARE Championship. No matter how you say it -- the Golden State Warriors are the 2015 NBA champions. #LETSGOWARRIORS