Sure Beats Work

Welcome Home, Fishes!

m@ — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 14:36:47 +0000

After being asked multiple times to take care of it, and multiple times refusing and saying I was too busy with wedding stuff, I finally moved my fish tank out of my parents’ place.

It looks rather empty here, but the plants need to grow back in, and there are plenty of fish hiding in there.

My big Angelfish is still the Super Star Destroyer of my tank.

Don’t worry though. There are new Star Destroyers being trained.

These are some of the new additions. Blue Rams.

The colors on these fish are awesome.

It feels good having the tank with me. Nothing beats waking up early and sitting and watching the tank for half an hour in the nude.

Gjelina: Pronounced Guh-Juh-Lee-Nuh?

m@ — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 22:13:20 +0000

After a Sunday stairs session with some friends, we decided to get some brunch at Gjelina. I have no idea how to pronounce the name of this restaurant. At first I didn’t see the “L” there and though it was pronounced guh-ji-nuh.

Michelle just wanted the coffee, because she liked the way the sugar cubes looked.

Poached Eggs with Lentils, Escarole & Salsa Verde.

I forget what this dish was, trout?

Housemade Spicy Pork Sausage. Incredible.

Smoked Salmon with House Pickles, Tomato, Caper, Shaved Onion & Grilled Bread.

Poached Eggs, Soft Polenta, Braised Cavolo Nero & Crisp Bacon.

Lemon-Ricotta-Chestnut Pancakes.

I hear the pizza is pretty good here, but because we started exercise too early in the morning, we couldn’t get to any of the after 10:30 AM menu items. Next time we sleep in and get pizza!

Told we had something special planned.

m@ — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 14:21:35 +0000

Michelle has been asking me not to post too much about our wedding, because she wanted to save it for this. We’re on Style Me Pretty! Did I get too excited there? I actually have never been to that website (story I’m sticking with), but I hear it’s a big deal. That means Michelle is a big deal, and as her plus one, I am a big deal. I like being a big deal.

Check out some of the photos from our wedding. All photos are by our awesome wedding photographer, Raya, unless otherwise noted.

Our first look. Michelle’s first words to me were, “I’m so glad you showed up.”

Guys I have known for way too long.

The gorgeous bride with her bridesmaids.

Being married under Hometree. Apologies to the bridesmaids and groomsmen on the ends. Fisheye lenses are not flattering there. On the up side, look how great Michelle and I look. Photo by David C. Lee.

Our wedding coordinators at Bash Eco Events put together Michelle’s image beautifully. People were calling it, “The Best 6 -Year-Old Birthday Party Ever.”

Photo byDavid C. Lee.

Sweet.

Yeah, we even brought in Coolhaus. Our friends, who don’t live in the LA area are still talking about the truck.

And of course there was dancing. A few wine bottles made it onto the dance floor, which meant even more fun.

So a big thanks to all the friends and family that were able to make this day so special. We had awesome vendors to make it all come together. I’m glad I can finally put the whole wedding behind me and just an old, married man.

Our wedding summed up in one photo.

m@ — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:56:41 +0000

There really isn’t one photo that can truly sum up our wedding, but this one does a pretty job from what I remember. Everyone had a camera. Some people had more than one. At one point during the reception, I leaned over to Michelle and said, “Don’t look now. I don’t know which of your relatives it is, but there is someone filming us eating.” I know it was a big day, but give us a break.

This is my father-in-law’s hand. He had a good, unobstructed view.

So why so few pictures if there were so many cameras? We’ve been holding out on you. Something good is coming. We promise.

Damn you picky eaters!

m@ — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 14:50:00 +0000

Have you ever had to grill up meat for a party and each person like theirs cooked a different way? Medium. Medium rare. Then there’s always that strange one, who likes his meat cooked well done. Seriously, who does that? (I’m looking at you Chris.)

Fortunately someone created this little gadget to get around all the guess work. Personally I like to just poke at the meat to figure out how cooked it is, but this seems like a novel idea for those that are unsure of how firm their meat should be at each stage of cooking.

I wonder if I could get this thing to tweet my BBQ status.

Daikokuya must have been better in a previous life.

m@ — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 18:24:13 +0000

Again, hop into my DeLorean and let’s go eat at this spot Daikokuya I just heard about from a friend. Well maybe I didn’t just hear about it but the long lines always deterred me, especially when it’s for ramen. I’ve been spoiled in Gardena where good ramen shops are everywhere and waiting is something you don’t have to consider.

There are probably just as many people standing outside on the sidewalk waiting to get into the joint.

These sausages are good. I haven’t found a sausage that I don’t enjoy in my mouth. Yes, that is what she said.

I don’t know what happened to the gyoza, but they turned into a giant pancake. It’s okay though. They covered it up with a mountain of green onions. No one will know.

This is good ramen. The broth is excellent, definitely some of the best I’ve ever had in all my ramen consumption. The noodles, however, are just okay. When you put that together it’s a bit disappointing after the wait. Perhaps the wait raised my expectations or maybe it was too much to eat before I actually got to the ramen, but I was just expecting more from the fabled Daikokuya.

Wedding and Marriage in Hindsight

m@ — Fri, 27 Aug 2010 15:03:51 +0000

Me: Does anything feel different now that we’re married? It feels exactly the same to me.
Michelle: What? No! Now we have to see each other for the rest of our lives.
Me: Even if we didn’t get married I’d still see you for the rest of your life.
Michelle: Why?
Me: I’d stalk you.

What’s supposed to feel different after getting married? I think if you expect to feel different you might have more to worry about. A wedding doesn’t change anything. You make the decision to spend the rest of your life with someone long before you go through any ceremony to make it “official.”

With the wedding all done it makes me laugh to think of all the planning and details we worked on, only to have our friends be impressed with the fact that both our fathers gave speeches in perfect English.

Ho Duk

m@ — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 18:47:53 +0000

After a meal in K-Town on Friday we decided to find a place that sells Ho Duk, which Michelle described as a sweet pancake. Apparently there aren’t a lot of places that sell this but Michelle knew. What’s this place called? I think it’s called that cart in the parking lot of the Korean market that sells those dessert pancakes. More specifically it’s in front of California Market on 5th Street and Western Avenue.

Here’s the cart. When the nice man in the cart tells you it’s hot, you best believe him.

This pastry tastes like a churro that you’d get from Disneyland but with less sugar, and you won’t have to bend over and take it in the butt from Mickey just to get this sugary treat. They’re only $1 each.

Judge me by my size, do you?

m@ — Thu, 26 Aug 2010 14:58:26 +0000

A friend sent me a link to this poster that I think is absolutely awesome. I told him I would buy it, but I didn’t want to make my marriage the shortest marriage in history. His response was, “But Michelle might like it. It’s leafy.”

Check out the poster here. It’s on sale today.

Downtown Culver City Summer Nights

m@ — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 18:22:30 +0000

Since the wedding, Michelle and I have been pretty lazy. Yes, we no longer have a wedding to worry about, but we can’t bring ourselves to be productive in other areas. Our place is still a mess of wedding paraphernalia, and we really haven’t cooked very much. In one of many unproductive nights, we decided to check out Culver City Summer Block Parties. These special Wednesday nights, although labeled summer, run through October apparently. At five minutes to 7:00 PM I said, “We should go to Culver Hotel. They’re having free, passed mini appetizers on the hour.” Before I could get a response, Michelle was out the door and I was following her.

Some popcorn to munch on while we decide what to eat.

Meatball. It tastes…like a meatball. What does a good meatball taste like anyway?

Mini grilled cheese bites were also being served. I could really do without the sourdough bread, but Gruyere is an excellent choice.

Here are the mini sausage corn dogs with spicy mustard and ketchup.

Chicken drummettes. For the life of me I cannot remember what this tasted like other than that I know I really liked the sauce.

I do remember this. Steak sandwich. Give me this any day over any of the gourmet burger joints in Los Angeles.