March in Review

1. Making chong yao bang (green onion pancakes) with Garrett.

I have better pictures, but I'm too lazy to upload them here. Garrett says it didn't taste quite right; it could be because didn't actually use green onion, or because we didn't use lard or tons of oil, or because we used the wrong kind of flour. We'll try it again.

2. Din Tai Fung with Elizabeth.

Elizabeth and I had a long drive to and from Santa Clarita, so it was great when Elizabeth though of stopping by Din Tai Fung in Arcadia for dinner. I'd never eaten there before, but I had heard all sorts of good things. We ordered crab and pork siu long bao and Shanghai pan-fried noodles. Both were pretty tasty, but I thought it was a little bit too long of a wait and slightly overpriced. But still, it was fun to hang out with Elizabeth.

3. Late-night pho with ROCK.

We've been trying to resurrect our Friday-night ROCK hangouts after fellowship. I missed the 85 C expedition, but I did join the ROCKers for late-night pho. We went to a Vietnamese restaurant (Pho Vynh Ky) off Brookhurst and Hazard in Little Saigon and ate half-priced bowls of pho. According to Daniel, the discount makes it taste better. They need to bottle that and sell it at Chinese grocery stores.

4. Mitsuwa festival booths with ROCK.

We're not sure what was going on (Spring Picnic Fair, perhaps?), but for some reason they had a bunch of different booths with Costco-like samples. The first one we came to was a teppan table where they were making fresh yakisoba. We couldn't resist. They also had someone making fresh mochi and gyoza. I wish they had that every week. I think a week or two later, we were back at Mitsuwa for ramen and curry. I was nearly seduced by a tempting custard bun. Pat me on the back; I resisted temptation.

5. Five Guys with Aryn and Sam.

Strangely, I have no pictures of the burgers, nor of Steven, Sam, or myself. But this picture of Aryn is too pretty to pass up. Sam and I were looking for "real food," as he calls it, in a location between my house and Aryn's. Despite the fact that we had all eaten pretty late and weren't that hungry, we decided to meet at Five Guys in Cerritos. I'd only heard Justin mention Five Guys, but I didn't really known anything about them.

I was intrigued by the free peanuts (would be really dangerous for anyone with anaphylactic allergies), and I appreciated the customizable burger concept. I think the whole "free toppings" thing is kind of deceiving because the burger ends up being pretty expensive anyways, plus more if you want to buy a drink or french fries. At least they're generous with the portions. It was yummy, but nothing special. I'd have to agree with most of the Yelpers that it can't really stand up against In-N-Out.

6. Bottega Louie macaroon at work.

Yes, I used my stack of sticky notes to display this macaroon. I don't know what flavor it was, but Christina was sweet enough to share her macaroons with me. They were a gift and came in a really pretty little box from Bottega Louie in downtown LA. By the way, check out their blog, which has lots of pretty food pictures.