TimeOut!

I'm super happy to announce that I'm blogging for TimeOut LA! You can check out my posts here, and I'll probably be linking a few of them on this blog as well.

You guys know I've been captivated by Burmese cuisine lately so I was excited to check out what LA had to offer in that regard. If you want to read my recap of some Burmese dishes you should try out, here's the link!

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Scene in '15: Cinderella

I saw Cinderella last weekend, and honestly when I heard Disney was re-doing Cinderella  I was pretty set on not seeing it. I mean we've all seen it a hundred times, done a hundred different ways, and we all had that section in elementary school where we had to read a bunch of Cinderella adaptations and write our own (right? or was that just me?), so I think as a culture we're all pretty Cinderella-ed out. Then I realized that Lady Rose and Daisy from Downton Abbey were going to be in it so I broke down and saw it. What can I say, I gotta support my Downton ladies.

Overall, my gut reaction was pretty much spot on. There wasn't much to make it stand out from every other Cinderella, and the whole 'Cinderella is perfect and has never had a negative thought about anyone ever' thing wore on me. There's a line where Cinderella confronts her stepmother about why she's been mistreating her and the stepmother says "Because you're so innocent and good!" and storms out. Honestly. I know fairy tales are the wrong place to look for character development, but it would have been a nice touch, especially since moments before it seemed as if the film might try to add some depth to the character of the stepmother.

On the other hand though, the costumes were exquisite. I would like everything Cate Blanchett wore because every outfit was stunning, especially her hats. I really liked the color palette they used, lots of royal blues, which I'm assuming was to play off of the lighter blue that Cinderella always wears.


Unless you've got little ones, I think this is probably one you can skip, but it's not the worst way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

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What Happened to February?

Tattoo placement


Delicious popsicles from Pop Bar at Anaheim Packing District

Bingo @ Bigfoot Lodge

We met Tom Vek!

This Arizmendi cookie encapsulates the way I feel about Oakland

Oakland Art

My clean closet!

Best Coast @ The Echo!

Clouds between storms

Celebrating Lunar New Year with dumplings

I met BB Quinn finally!

He likes me, I swear.

More clouds!


I'm so glad I kept up with the monthly photo recaps, I love being able to look back on everything that's happened (especially since I'm usually a little late getting them up). February was such a good month! I'm trying to hold on to all that good energy and carry it with me all throughout this year, and so far so good.

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Pretty Girl Rock

A silver lining to listening to Pandora stations all day at work is that even when we're playing a station I didn't pick I'll occasionally discover a song I actually really like. My latest discovery is Keri Hilson's Pretty Girl Rock. Aside from the fact that it's super catchy, I love this song for the same reasons that I love Kanye; I just really appreciate any time someone can unabashedly celebrate themselves. I remember reading somewhere Kanye said something like 'You want me to be great but don't want me to say I'm great', and I thought that was really powerful. I've loved Kanye ever since, even though he gets a lot of backlash for his attitude. So many people struggle with self-confidence, and then when there are people who aren't afraid to sing their own praises they get vilified too. You can't win, so you might as well just say you're great and let that confidence shine.

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Tea With Strangers

I'm a big fan of tea and talking to strangers, so when I heard about Ankit Shah's Tea With Strangers project I was instantly on board. Check out my interview with him on 626foodettes, and learn more about how to get Tea With Strangers started in your city here.

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Podcasts & Tortas Sinaloa

Around Christmas I finally broke down and bought a new auxiliary cord for my car. I did this begrudgingly because I already had a cord, but the plastic on the end was so thick that it wouldn't let the cord sit flush with my phone around it's case, so the cord wouldn't stay plugged in. When I only listened to my ipod while driving this wasn't a problem but after I saw the light of Spotify/started listening to podcasts I realized I needed to stop being so cheap and just buy a new one already. It's been amazing just for the podcasts alone. Previously I would only play Good Food while I was cooking, and the episodes would pile up but now it's a lot easier to listen to more podcasts and stay on top of them. I love Good Food, and some new finds I've been really into lately are the Dinner Party Download, 99% Invisible, Call Your Girlfriend and Radiolab. If you guys have any podcast suggestions, send 'em my way!

So anyway, when I was catching up on the backlog of podcasts, I heard Gustavo Arellano review Tortas Sinaloa on Good Food. I'm a big torta fan, so when he talked about a place that had over 40 different kinds of tortas I figured it would be worth driving to Santa Ana for.


Tortas can sometimes come in overwhelming portions, but not these. They were the perfect size. The Chicken Milanesa was so flavorful, but the Carnitas was even better. The Queso Panela on the Carnitas torta was the perfect touch, reminding me that Mexican cheeses are my fave (looking at you, Queso Fresco).



 The agua fresca on the other hand did come in giant portions, but there's nothing wrong with a little extra agua fresca especially when it's such high quality.


I'm seeing a lot of driving to Santa Ana in my future, because I'm already craving these tortas again.

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Land's End

I'm pretty sure going to Sutro Baths was the best call we made during our trip. It was a gorgeous day, clear and sunny but not hot. I had never been to this part of the city before so I was really glad we got to go. The Sutro Baths are ruins of a spa that was built in the late 1800s and burned down in the 1960s. We walked around the ruins and the caves, and then got to see it all through the Camera Obscura, which was amazing.












It was the kind of day that made me really happy to be from California.

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Burma Superstar

Speaking of food you can only get in the Bay Area, I was fixated on trying Burma Superstar on our trip. I don't know why out of all the food I hadn't tried in the Bay Burma Superstar was the one I was really upset about, but I couldn't get it out of my head. My instincts did not lead me astray; the food was incredible. It was pretty dark in there so the pictures aren't the best but oh my goodness was it delish.

We split the Oh Noh Kauswer soup and Sesame Beef, and I'm still dreaming about that soup. I know Burmese food is a blend of all the countries that border it and I felt like a lot of those flavors were present in this soup. The coconut base reminded me of Tom Kah, but while Tom Kah is usually light and lemony the Oh Noh was really rich and savory. I could have finished the entire bowl by myself, it was so good. I've been inspired now to try out some of the Burmese restaurants near my house and I'm hoping their Oh Noh will be just as good.