Family in LA

Family.


Nothing beats the bond of family. Ever. No matter how badly I mess up or how long it's been since I've seen my family, they are always there for me. They will always think I am #1, as I them. Family is my blood. My soul. My genetic bond.


When I was younger, I would always see my cousins every year at Chinese New Year events, birthday parties and weddings. We used to have a kiddie table at the weddings where us kids would wreak havoc. We'd break glasses and hide our evidence in the trash. As we got older, we would go to Barona's casino after Chinese New Years (the hustling/gambling thing runs in the family too). Then as we'd gotten even more older, years would lapse before we would see each other again.


Eight years have passed since the cousins, the same group of kids who mixed soy sauce with coca cola at the wedding tables, all saw each other again. This past weekend, we all got together to celebrate my birthday at Lucky Strike at LA Live! in Downtown LA.


Lucky Strike was a club-meets-bowling alley venue that includes a bar, lounge area, DJ, cosmic lighting and bowling. Strict dress codes and club-drink prices apply. It's not meant to be a casual neighborhood bowling alley. In fact, I see it as a typical LA lounge with the convenience of a bowling alley ($75/hr). Prices were steep and expected. And obviously, the company was funtastic.

Silver Lake

I am rich. I am rich, not by money nor by assets, but I am rich with friends. I have always been lucky to be surrounded by wonderful friends from every stage in my life--elementary school, high school, college, graduate school, and now residency--all of whom I value, trust and keep close to my heart.

I've also learned to value my independence, my alone time, my "me" time. The time when I can sit, relax, people watch, and be alone. Today was one of those days. Ironically, I decided to explore a part of town in Los Angeles with a name that speaks of richness--"Silver Lake", except today I was not surrounded my one of my life's riches: my friends.

I was by myself. And I was happy. In Los Angeles. Silver Lake, to be exact.

Los Angeles continues to amaze me with the different types of restaurants, cafes, and innovative dining options.

Intelligentsia (http://www.intelligentsiacoffee.com/) is a free-trade coffee cafe down Sunset Blvd that offers outdoor and some indoor seating, has free wifi, and serves probably the best coffee I've had. After tasting my latte with a nicely designed foam leaf, I was not surprised by how packed Intelligentsia was at 430pm on a Thursday.

I even watched the barista design the leaf on my latte and it was amazing how he did it.

Across the street was Forage (3823 West Sunset Blvd Los Angeles, CA http://www.foragela.com/ ) which is a market-driven type restaurant that had just opened January 2010 by Jason Kim, a former sous-chef of Lucques. The restaurant is white, plain and simple--characteristics that mirror the food. Ingredients that Jason Kim mixes up are fresh, simple and good. You can either pick 3 sides for $10 or 1 protein and 2 sides for $13.

I ordered the mac'n cheese, Glazed rainbow carrots, asparagus, fennel and chives, and the pork belly sandwich:

The mac'n cheese...let me just say, was the best, let me emphasize, it was the BEST mac'n cheese I have ever had. And I absolutely love mac'n cheese. The richness of the cheese, crunchy crust, and the balance of salty and creamy made it perfect.

Vegetables tasted organic, naturally sweet and was wonderfully tossed in an olive oil dressing.

Lastly was the pork belly sandwich. Amazing. It came as a layer of lean pork belly, followed by tomatoes, and a pickled cabbage salad, sandwiched between toasted baguette. It reminded me of the sandwich I had at Sandwich Story (see previous blog). It's rare that I've had a meal (or 3) at a restaurant where every dish I had was mindblowing.

Today, even though I was not surrounded by one of my riches (my friends), I was welcomed by another gift this Silver Lake city had to offer--delicious food. Today, my "me" day, was the most absolutely wonderful day I've had by myself...and I can't wait to share these new places with my friends.

Breakfast of Champions at Auntie Em's Kitchen

Auntie Em's Kitchen
4616 Eagle Rock Blvd
Los Angeles, CA

http://www.auntieemskitchen.com/

I've heard about Auntie Em's from one of my food-blogging-friend-slash-guru. She swore by the red velvet cupcakes here. Of course, my next step was look them up on Yelp. I found out that they have breakfast and red velvet cupcakes? My two favs! I'm there.

Auntie Em's is located in Eagle Rock (between Pasadena and Downtown LA) and stands out as a red building down a street of neighboring Filipino stores. They're known for serving food made from organic ingredients. It was an absolutely beautiful day in Southern California, it was only natural that we sit outside. The sun captured the boyfriend really well:

And there's excited me:

Auntie Em's had a fair amount of breakfast and lunch options. The boyfriend ordered the open-face steak sandwich, which came with eggs, salsa, gruyere cheese, atop ciabatta bread. And as you can tell from above picture, I ordered the french toast with strawberries and bananas:

The open-faced sandwich was delicious--the strong bold taste of gruyere cheese complimented the simple eggs and steak like yin and yang.

And of course, we couldn't leave Auntie Em's without trying their red velvet cupcake ($3.50):

The cupcake had a slight crumble and was topped with light cream cheese frosting--not too sweet and not too rich.

After trying Auntie Em's, I understand my foodie friend's love for their cupcakes here. I thought they were good, but hands down, the breakfast took the spotlight.