animalistic movie weekend.

waxy bubbles.

watched tokyo! friday night, an indie flick comprising of three short films by three different directors, most notably michel gondry. two out of the three were really good in my opinion, the other was, eh.., weird.

saturday night we dined at animal - a relatively new restaurant with an emphasis on their meats. here's what we had:

king crab newburg over buttered toast.
pork belly with kimchi, peanuts and chili soy.
flat iron steak with caper butter and artichoke & potato hash.
lamb shank with lemon, oregano and jus.
jar of lemon curd, berries & cream.

everything was absolutely heavenly - i should have stopped eating after the two appetizers but it was so good i couldn't stop (and regretted it later). the lamb shank itself was more meat than either of us ever eat so we were beyond stuffed and even felt a little sickly post-dinner. i forgot my camera, otherwise i'd have some yummy photos to post. afterwards we went and watched sunshine cleaning at the grove. it was really good, but not what i had expected (it had been advertised as a little-miss-sunshine-esque comedy).

sunday was nice and relaxing, though we did venture south to see MvA in IMAX 3D at the bridge and got some hot udon soup at taiko back in brentwood where they've redone the menu! but it was still delicious as ever..

world baseball classic 2009.

dreamworks animation franchise themed ice cream cake.

went to the final series of the world baseball classic, held at dodger stadium. saturday was korea v. venezuela, sunday was japan vs. usa, and monday was japan vs. korea (links go to my photos from each). japan won! it was insane/intense but definitely a lot of fun.

saturday was also dan's birthday. i got him an ice cream cake from coldstone. when i ordered i told them to try and incorporate the mets, shrek and madagascar on there, thinking they'd stick those little plastic figurines on it, but instead they DRAW shrek and alex the lion on it. and no mets! it's okay though, it is quite delicious (devil's food chocolate cake with mint ice cream) and it passed his standards so all is good.

where the wild things are

new trailer! it looks AWESOME.
and yay for using arcade fire! works perfectly.

my first spring training.

bug splatter on the drive to phoenix.

woke up at 5am on saturday morning and departed for phoenix. we assumed there would be a one hour time difference, but apparently arizona doesn't have daylight savings time so we arrived earlier than expected.

we went straight to maryvale ballpark, where the brewers have their spring training. i brought along the chad billingsley signed ball i have and was also able to get james loney and chin-lung hu to sign it. i was bummed that russell martin and andre ethier wouldn't sign anything. clayton kershaw was the starting pitcher for the game, and the dodgers won! it was a lot of fun, and of course the arizona weather was perfect. highs in the low 80s.

despite being tired from our early start, we cruised around downtown phoenix for a bit. and went to conspire, a coffee shop / clothing, jewelry, art retail / anarchist library in this little artist's colony. it was awesome. the coffee was great, and all the stuff they sell in the store is handmade, mostly by artists who work the coffee counter. and the coffee was very good. phoenix has hipsters! who knew.

we dinnered at noca (see previous post), cruised around downtown scottsdale for a bit (there's a sprinkles cupcakes there!) and headed back to the hotel and crashed pretty early. we were staying at the clarendon in downtown phoenix where there wasn't much, but the hotel itself was very cool. and it was the most convenient location for us since it was between the ballparks and scottsdale.

we were going to go for a hike sunday morning, but were so tired from the day before that we ended up sleeping in. then dan had the brilliant idea of checking whether or not there was dunkin donuts in the area, and there WAS! oh my goodness, it was like i died and went to heaven. i haven't had a dunkin iced coffee in so long.. i can't wait to have another (we go back in late april)! then off to camelback ranch, the brand spanking new dodgers/white sox spring training facility. it's a really great little stadium, and i love the architectural details they used throughout. manny ramirez, casey blake and orlando hudson all started this game - though i wasn't able to get any signage - but manny only hit once and played for a very short few innings. and they even brought out hong-chih kuo to pitch for an inning.

we started the drive back to LA right after the game. we made it back to the san gabriel valley around 10p so stopped at indian beer house for some tasty taiwanese treats before driving the final thirty or so miles back to the west side. it was a perfect weekend, and so much fun!

photos from the trip can be found in my flickr photoset.

noca

noca menus on clipboards.

dinnered at noca our one night in phoenix. despite being located in a very suburban looking strip mall, it reminded us very much of the type and quality of dining we enjoy so much in LA. the style of food is new american, and everything was exceptional. even the service was impeccable. and they had the largest selection of pinot noirs i've ever seen at a restaurant (1.5 pages!).

anyway, before they even served our first course, they brought out a complimentary 'snack' i guess you could call it - a little ball of apple butter with whipped/foamed blue cheese served in a spoon. it was quite tasty - a very interesting combination of flavors - and dan, who doesn't like blue cheese, even liked it.

for our appetizer we ordered the crab spring rolls, which were served chilled, with a slice of pickled daikon radish. very fresh and smooth. for our second course, i ordered the duck breast. it came with a pocket of brown / whole grain rice, broccoli rabe and grapes marinated in balsamic vinegar. dan had the striped bass, which was served atop all sorts of goodies i can't remember. everything was cooked perfectly and quite delicious.

between the entrees and dessert, we were served a complimentary bowl of cotton candy. strange, and a little reminiscent of the bazaar (they have foie gras cotton candy), but it was nice to have something to munch on when deciding what to have for dessert. we settled on the milk & cookies, which was a little glass of malt vanilla milkshake and three very gooey chocolate chip cookies.

all in all, it was an excellent dinner and experience, and we were pleasantly surprised that we found such a gem in phoenix. scroll down for photos!

complimentary appetizer: blue cheese foam and apple butter.

crab spring rolls with pickled daikon radish.

duck breast with broccoli rabe, spinached-wrapped rice and pickled grapes.

herb crusted striped bass with gnocci and vegetables.

complimentary dessert: 'willy nilly' cotton candy.

'milk & cookies' : malt vanilla milkshake and chocolate chip cookies.

phoenix and back in less than 48 hours.

just got back from a quick weekend trip to phoenix. it was AWEsome. but i am exHAUSTED. so, i will update on all the juicy details tomorrow.

for the type geeks out there.

gizmodo made a post about a periodic table of typefaces, by squidspot. i LOVE it!

mixercise!

bonsai roots, huntington library.

i've had a pretty active week so far. two mile run on monday, bikram yoga on tuesday (which we haven't been to in almost 3 weeks and man is it rough), and ice skating tonight! the pickwick near work as open skating at their ice rink on wednesday nights from 8.30p-10, and we've been talking about going for awhile but finally made it out tonight. i've only been ice skating enough times to count on one hand, so i'm pretty bad, but dan helped me out a lot and even taught me how to skate backwards a little. i just need to work on the whole balance, and confidence, thing.

also of note, we're seriously contemplating a spur-of-the-moment trip to phoenix this weekend to catch a spring training game or two. fingers crossed!

thanks, webb.

my alma mater (sp?) knows way too much about me. i received the following email today as did every other person on the alumni mailing list:

Dear Jenn,
Here's an update on a fellow Webbie:

Last June, Jennifer Pan ’04 joined DreamWorks Animation as a Technical Director for the animated feature film, How to Train Your Dragon. Jennifer graduated in 2008 from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S.E. in Digital Media Design / Computer Science. She is living in Los Angeles and happy to be back on the West Coast.

Read more alumni newsnotes and other stories about fellow Webb Alumni in this month's Towne & Baseline--Webb's Online Alumni Newsletter.
You'll also find updates from the Office of Alumni Relations.
Click here: www.webb.org/towne&baseline

Sincerely,
Anne Stewart
Director of Alumni Relations

fan-freaking-tastic. *sigh*

11 games & counting.

an empty dodger stadium, offseason.

the following is the list of baseball games we have already purchased tickets to, and plan on going to of course. all the games are at dodger stadium in LA except for the two games i'll be attending in late april over in phoenix. i can't even begin to state how freaking excited i am.

march 21 : world baseball classic semifinals
march 22 : world baseball classic semifinals
march 23 : world baseball classic finals
april 4 : dodgers vs. brewers [exhibition game]
april 15 : dodgers vs. giants [opening night]
april 16 : dodgers vs. giants
april 26 : diamondbacks vs. giants
april 27 : diamondbacks vs. cubs
may 18 : dodgers vs. mets
may 19 : dodgers vs. mets
may 20 : dodgers vs. mets

bus ads.

clever & creative bus advertising. these are pretty cool.

happy bday, pops.

from the desert garden at the huntington library.

another food-filled weekend.

steve hosted a surprise birthday party for lucas at tinto tapas on friday night. the food was pretty good, the sangria was strong. and we met some very cool people from the entertainment industry.

saturday, we had brunch at mi piace in old town pasadena, then spend the afternoon roaming the gardens at the huntington library. for dinner, mike cooked almond [correction: praline] crusted duck breast with sauteed rapini and apple&potato au gratin. dan and my contribution was short rib and spicy pork tacos from kogi. afterwards, mike had some people over to just hang out and drink wine and what not.

we went to tart on sunday for brunch with colin, a friend of dan's from college visiting LA for the weekend. unlike the past couple times we've been, it was packed and the service was a tad slow, but the food was still very tasty. sunday night i treated my family out to dinner at takao for my dad's birthday. we ordered the omakase, which was $120 per person. this was what we were served:

_mirugai with spicy sauce
_albacore tartar with caviar
_toro sashimi with fresh wasabi
_halibut sashimi with warm truffle oil
_king crab legs with vinaigrette
_single lamb rib
_fried japanese oysters
_assorted nigiri sushi
_miso soup with clams
_dessert
and of course we ordered the eggplant extravaganza on the side.

all that plus a bottle of sake was quite price-y. after tax and tip, it was more than i take home in a week from work, but it was well worth it. everything was delicious and spot on - i would have gladly paid even more for the meal we had. good, and delicious, times.

HE'S BAAAACKK!!!

manny ramirez, NLDS2008 game 3 : dodgersVcubs.

manny is BACK. woohooooooooo!

"eat me," says los angeles.

i've managed to subscribe to three food blogs with very very similar names:

Eat: LA
Eater LA
Eating LA

whatever happened to creativity in this town of all towns??
and does the word 'eat' look weird to you after you stare at it for awhile? because it does to me...

work it out.

table garnish.

ran home from dan's last night to break in the new running shoes - it's about 1.5 miles. normally i can't run outdoors because i have allergy- and exercise-induced asthma, but i took a zyrtec (which, by the way, was the only reason i could function come spring time on the east coast) a little before the run and i ended being okay. it's nice to have an alternative for nights we can't make yoga, especially since, according to my brother, i'm getting fat. ugh, he can be such an ass sometimes.

warm gooey goodness.

squiggly view of downtownLA from the getty center.

post-work on friday we headed over to alibi to get our kogi fix. the kogi/alibi alliance is pure freaking genius as it was nice to down some sapporo while waiting for those delicious korean tacos indoors, as opposed to our last kogi truck experience of waiting in line outside for two hours in the cold.

saturday morning we ventured to huckleberry, rustic canyon's sister bakery, for brunch. it was so good, we both declared it our new favorite weekend breakfast joint. the fried egg sandwich - two fried eggs on toasted country break with bacon, gruyere, arugula and aioli - was absolute perfection. and the bread pudding is pure melt-in-your-mouth goodness. i cannot cannot cannot wait to go back next weekend.

the weekend was sunny and with temperature in the upper 70s, which is the warmest its been in awhile, so we spent saturday afternoon walking around santa monica and just soaking up the sun. sunday was quiet, though we did each get a new pair of running shoes from niketown (work's been keeping us too late to make yoga most nights, so we might start running on those nights instead.. we'll see how i do with my asthma..) as well as watched a couple spring training games on the tellie. ah i can't wait for the world baseball classic to start next week and for baseball season to kick in april..