I made the mistake of stepping onto a scale during the holidays at my cousin’s house. It’s the first scale that I’ve stepped on in nine months or so. I’ve only gained half of the weight I lost for the wedding. All I need is another wedding to get myself back into shape. Here are some of the things I’ve eaten in the past two weeks.
It’s okay. He’s been training on a cruise ship for this type of eating.
And who could forget all the holiday drinking. At least it was light beer, right?
Mixology is Los Angeles is crap. It came out of the counterculture of always wanting to do/be something different. People in Los Angeles are willing to drink it just because it’s different and not because it actually tastes good. That’s why so many of the drinks in LA taste like cough syrup. If I’m in Los Angeles, don’t bother me with your mixed concoctions. Give me a beer or whisky on the rocks, but in Buenos Aires it’s a different story.
The concept of mixology in Argentina came out of a necessity during the early 2000′s when economic hardships made a variety of liquors hard to obtain. Bartenders had to get creative to make tasty libations, and even though they have access to a lot more today, they are still continuing to mix up some of the best drinks I’ve ever tasted.
This is Daniel, the best bartender in Argentina. He is the resident bartender at Home Hotel in Buenos Aires where we stayed. He built the entire drink menu on his own. He had just returned from a world bar tending competition in Singapore so we were fortunate enough to taste some of his drinks. My favorite drink was the Sweet n’ Spicy Scotch.
While we were spoiled to have Daniel right downstairs from our room, he’s not the only one mixing up great cocktails. We were pointed to 878, a speak easy that has gained quite a bit of popularity recently among locals. Fortunately we had a call put in to expect us at the door. This place has over 100 varieties of Scotch but still serves up some great mixed drinks.
Liquor by the bottle in the markets is more expensive in Buenos Aires than it is in the states. If you look at the price of a cocktail in a bar, it’s about $8 USD. Still I was happy to pay for this, because the quality of the drinks was so good. If liquor isn’t your thing that’s okay too, because beer and wine are very inexpensive.
This beer and wine cost less than $5 USD. The beer costs just under $1 USD. It’s delicious wine, and in case you were wondering, yes that is a standard full sized bottle of wine next to that beer. With alcohol being so inexpensive you have to be careful that you don’t go too crazy…like this.
Our new friends, the Portenos (locals). The blondes are sisters from Mallorca, Spain who seem to be permanent residents in Buenos Aires. The guy bought me a whiskey, and when I went to return the favor with a round of shots, I realized I didn’t have any more Pesos and the bar couldn’t take my American Benjis. My new friend picked up the tab! This picture was taken in the private lounge area of the bar.
We also met some awesome folks from the UK. When the Portenos left to hit up another club we brought our new friends with us to the lounge area. The security recognized Michelle and I and asked if it was just us two. I looked at our new friends from the UK and told the bouncer, “Somos juntos. (We’re together.)” I bet that’s the first time a bunch of foreigners took the private lounge area.
I don’t turn red when I drink. I’m red because of too much sun, but yes I am throwing up Westside in both those pictures. I may not be red because of the alcohol, but I’m definitely quite drunk because of the alcohol.
I woke up the next morning to find a champagne cork in the bathtub.
If you’re looking for a trip to enjoy some great drink culture and night life, Buenos Aires is your place. These people party until 5:00 AM. They definitely know how to enjoy life. Fortunately Buenos Aires is a city much like New York City in that there aren’t a whole lot of historical and cultural sites to see, because I had to hardest time trying to get Michelle up to do anything the next day.
Okay, so the name of my brewery is still in the works, but it will happen…some day. Since it was girls’ night out for Michelle and Shivani, Raaj said it was man date night for us. To ease up on the one-on-one man lovin’ I invited Tim out and we went to go learn to brew beer at Culver City Home Brewing.
The place where they hold the classes is their store where they sell the supplies and kits to brew your own beer. They could run a much more efficient shop, but I get the impression that the guys that run the store really enjoy brewing their own stuff and teaching others. There’s no need to conquer the world just yet.
Adding malt extract.
Letting everyone get a smell of the hops.
While it was really cool to see how easy it is to brew your own beer, I don’t think I have the time or space to commit at this time to making my own beer. With the shitty apartment stove and lack of storage space it just doesn’t seem to make sense at this time.
But if there’s a sign that I will brew in the future, this is it.
Audrey Magazine put together a fashion show, Audrey’s Night Out. It was hosted at the Petersen Automotive Museum.
We looked in this car and there was a flask on the seat labeled, “Lindsay.”
The staff that helped put it together.
Why yes, Michelle IS wearing leather and faux fur.
The red carpet was abuzz that night. The K-Town reality show cast even showed up. (See title.) Has anyone bought their show? I hope not.
Of course my favorite part as a plus one to these events is that my only responsibility is to enjoy the hosted bar. Hello, Ketel One!
But this is where I spent most of my night.
Maybe we also found a box of chicken wings and huddled around it, eating voraciously.
And maybe I befriended the Stella guy and got more than my share of glasses to take home. Also, an ice bucket with the Stella logo.
I took some of the photos off my camera finally, including some additional photos from Labor Day Weekend in San Diego.
Yes, Asians like to mentally challenge themselves even when drinking. The whole back rows are hard liquor.
I don’t know what happened here, whether we played half court beer pong or just made a hybrid flip pong game.
We need to switch to weed from this point out. No one will get hangovers, and the trip would be so much cheaper. We wouldn’t have to do anything. We would just sit around and laugh at the screensaver. Food bills might get high though.
Saturday morning I got a call from my cousin. He said he was in my area and wanted to know if I wanted to get brunch. Knowing that my cousin is twenty five and that twenty five year olds like booze, I took him to Overland Cafe for the all-you-can-drink champagne brunch.
This was my meal. Nothing fancy here. Meat and potatoes.
Crab Cakes Benedict.
Instead of an English Muffin you have a crab cake! I’m allergic, but I was tempted to try this. Would that be ultimate food blogger dedication? It’s not like I’d die.
I’ve got to say this was not one of my smarter ideas. My cousin loved it though. About three bottles in he said, “We should have a family reunion and drink together.” Sounds fun, huh? Except no one in our family drinks.
After brunch I took a nap until about 6:30 PM. I was supposed to be at dinner at that time, but fortunately for me my ride was running late. It’s a good thing I had a ride too, because I was drunk when I woke up from my nap. For dinner we went to Cuban Bistro, probably the only non Asian joint in Alhambra. Why would we check out a place like this in an area known for its Asian eats? Well we needed a place that was walking distance to Ultrazone Laser Tag, but the birthday boy is afraid of Asian food that does not have the words Panda and Express in the restaurant name. The restaurant chosen was really good nonetheless.
Masitas del Puerco. The skin on the pork was fried so perfectly and the inside was tender, juicy, and had a big kick of citrus flavor. Couple that with the plaintains and Arroz Moros. I could eat this all day.
After a meal like this there’s nothing left to do but run around with a laser gun and shoot your friends. If you’ve had excessive amounts of alcohol, you might also take a random kid hostage in the arena and film a ransom movie on your iPhone 4.
There is no reason for this product to exist.
I got some more photos from one of my friends of our Vancouver trip. These are the professional shots.
“You kids shouldn’t play so rough. Somebody’s gonna start cryin’.”
“Hang on lady. We going for a ride!”
“I’m rather embarrassed, General Solo, but it appears that you are to be the main course at a banquet in my honor.”
Okay I’ve run out of movies that these pictures bring to mind.
The circus is in town! I want to see the elephants.
Doing a little bit of boozin’ with my buddies.
Geronimo! Into the cold Canadian waters.
Michelle threw a surprise birthday party for my 30th birthday. I use the term “surprise” loosely. We are good at the communication thing, so we know what the other is up to most of the time. I knew something was going down. I just kept my nose out of her business the best I could, because I knew she wanted to do something special. The day of the birthday I knew Michelle needed time to prep things in the apartment, so I told her I’d go out for some drinks for a couple of hours.
Two hours is a long time, and a lot of whiskey can be consumed in that time. I walked back to my apartment with a note on the door that read, “Sit down and play the DVD.” My first thought was, “She got me porn for my birthday!” Nope. What I got was way cooler! In my intoxicated excitement I do drop the F-bomb at least once in the video, so play at your own risk.
Yes, Michelle got my friends to dress up in masks and parade around my living room with light sabers! That’s just the start. It kept getting better and better!
Why is that Clone Trooper giving the Star Trek “live long and prosper” sign?
Everything was Star Wars, right down to the plates.
After eating some food and having some beers, we walked over to Backstage to do some drinking and karaoke, but there were more surprises in store for me there.
“Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi! You’re my only hope.” Yes, this is my birthday cake! Be jealous little kids!
Let me show you again. This is my birthday cake. R2-D2! Red Velvet R2-D2.
I wish I had more photos from my birthday, but six Jameson on the rocks before dinner and the party begins will make you forget to take your camera and other details throughout the night. I am waiting for some more photos to come from friends that had cameras during the night. I’m still debating whether to post my karaoke video, because I drank A LOT. I scream the F-Bomb at the beginning of the song, and then it goes downhill from there.
Michelle really outdid herself this time. I definitely don’t feel old after having a birthday party like this. I love it! You can bet she’s going to get the best Avatar surprise birthday party next time around.
Posted in Geek, Photo, She's So Lucky, Video
Tagged alcohol, light saber, star wars, whiskey
Canada’s immigrant population is heavily Asian. It’s odd being from Southern California and having the working class not be Hispanic. It does have one drawback. There aren’t any taco trucks, but there are plenty of awesome Asian joints. Plenty of other delicious things can be eaten as well.
The izakaya scene in Vancouver is awesome. The next series of pictures are from Hapa Izakaya. I don’t even remember what we ordered, so just use your imagination when you see the pictures.
Do you know what time it is? Sake Time!
How can we really call the izakaya scene a scene unless we stopped into more spots. This next spot was called Gyoza King.
The place lived up to its name. These gyoza were stately and royal.
Of course one of the Koreans had to order kimchi ramen.
Not into the Asian food? There’s still plenty of other things to snack on in the city, with drinks of course.
This is poutine, one of Canada’s national dishes. It consists of french fries covered with beef gravy and cheese curds. It’s serious business in Canada. I personally don’t think much of it, but I would definitely give it another go as there are all different styles of this dish.
This was the dinner I woke up on the table for at The Keg Steakhouse & Bar. The steak and seafood were cooked perfectly.
Don’t forget the drinks. Shot! Shot! Shot! Shot!
You might not be able to tell, but I am grimacing. Why?
See that stuff floating on top? That is hot sauce…in 151. So it burns going in and coming out.
Last but certainly not least was Japadog! It combines the need for Los Angeles ghetto dogs with Asian flavor. It’s just too bad these guys aren’t open when the bars and clubs let out. They would make a killing.
So who else wants to hit up Vancouver for a food marathon?
Hello, there. My name is Matt, but on this website I just refer to myself as m@. I love all things Star Wars, food, beer, and music, especially The Beatles. I'm one who likes to be noticed and will sometimes say or do inappropriate things to get your attention. I'm perfectly complimented by my online and real life partner Michelle.