La Vie en Rose

4 ★★★★ for the ambiance and the service
3.5 ★★★ for the food
$$ 30~50
I took my parents to dinner for their B-day celebration since their b-day is close to each other. it's a new restaurant i never tried before. Since Restaurant.com has coupon for it, i decided to get $50 dollar gift certificate and try it out. we order the Prix Fix Menu which comes with soup or salad, main entry and a dessert for $39 per person. i had the steak with Lobster tail. the lobster was pretty good and i think it really worth the money.

my mom had the Lamb Shark which is just ok~~ the meat was tender and soft, but nothing special on the sauce.

i think dessert part was the most fun experience. they loaded all the dessert on a cart and we can pick what we like off from it. i picked the creme burlee, black forest, and Napoleon. the creme burlee got strawberry inside which was pretty good. but Napoleon on the other hand sucks.... i was fooled by it looks. actually i saw the cart was sitting there for a while when we begin to eat. since the dessert has been waited for a while, the puff pastry became soggy and it wasn't crisp at all. i mean for the price we are paying, i would expect better quality food. La Vie en Rose didn't disappointed us, but it didn't wow us either. i wouldn't complain too much since we got coupon for it.

Ojiya

this ojiya has opened for a while and we finally stepped inside today to check out what they have. This store sells Ramen mainly and some rise dishes. but we saw they got new Lunch Combination dishes which come with Soup & salads. I order the Katus Pork w/ Fish for $8.99. the Katus pork is thick and the fish tastes fresh. the 1st time experience and food quality overall were really good! They also have some new items including Gazya & Fried Rice, and Squid Ink Yakisoba!! I love Squid Ink!! I would definitely come back next time to try it out.
Squid w/ Fried Chicken. It's also very good~ recommend~ the highlight is the rice and soup are REFILLABLE!! awww~~ it's the 1st restaurant i been to that have refillable rice!

A-Team

i was planning to see INCEPTION at the beginning. i wanna see it so bad~~ but we found out it's actually not on yet until July... since i was already in the AMC, i chose A-Team over Toy Story 3.... I never see A-Team on TV drama before, so i don't know the storyline at all. the movie overall turns out better than i expected. An action movie w/ good plots. but normally i won't spend my money on movie unless it really attracts me. i probably won't watch A-Team if i had a choice... aww.. i want my INCEPTION!!!

署國菜

aunt came to LA this weekend and we took them to the Manie's Restaurant inside the HK plaza. good that everybody eat spicy food in the family b/c everybody love it. we ordered a lot of the dishes include 香鍋雞, 蜜汁排骨, 蔥燒魚, 苦瓜炒蛋, 水煮兩樣, 詹茶鴨, eggplants w/ hot sauce, garlic crisp fish, etc.... we were too busy eating and i don't even have time to take picture... i recommend the 香鍋雞.
krispy kreme
we went to get some doughnut latter~ the little factory was so cute~~ although i wasn't a fan of krispy kreme, but it's a must eat for tourist...

Beach BBQ

summer means BBQ~ we went to Marina del rey w/ bunch of friends over the weekend. we came here early in the morning to take a spot before it gets too crowded. some of our friend already start working on the grill around 10am.
the preparation
Taiwanese Sausage it's really good~~~ ♥♥ it! but i smell like sausage afterward...
more food~ + 豆花 & crisp cake & strawberry for dessert~
it was a really nice day and i was thinking to play volleyball, but somebody else took the spot since there were a lot people at the beach. :(
after a great feast, people start to leave around 4pm. it was a long drive back home since it's father's day weekend and traffic was everywhere. i went straight to bed and fall right into sleep after i got home. zzz

Happy Dragon Boat Day

Tamales day~~ our boss passed out tamales to us on the dragon boat day~ i am not sure where they got it, but i think even my mom made better tamales than this. haha~ but it's better than nothing. =)

California Thai Kitchen

spicy wings for $0.50 each Monday only! discover this new restaurant and gave it a try on the hot wings~~ it's a small Thai restaurant located in the chino spectrum plaza. the place was empty and there was only 1 customer there on Monday. the wings are pretty good with sweet & sour sauce. but i don't think it's worth driving. the chicken was a bit uncooked and still pink in the middle. :S

Earthen

it's pretty famous around the area. it serves decent Chinese food with good taste! i love their shrimp dish! but it's a bit oily and makes my tummy sick sometime... i sometime go to 新金城 located inside the ranch 99 market since Earthen is always busy! apparently it's run by the same owner since the menu is pretty much the same.

Roy's @ Garden Walk

4 ★★★★ for the ambiance and the service
4 ★★★★ for the food
$$ 30~50
i've always want to try Roy's. Roy's got happy hour for $5 each appetizer and cocktail, 4:30~ 6:30 Sun~Fri. HH is only at the bar and patio. we choose to sit at patio since the weather was really nice and the day was still bright. i got a Roy's Hawaiian Martini. it's was really strong for me. babe had a Roy’s Island Mai Tai. i was wonder if it's Long Island + Mai Tai... @@ b/c it looks like a long lsland, but taste like Mai Tai.. plus it's supper strong....
Lobster California Roll & Crunchy Golden Lobster Potstickers
Calamari / a bit of sweet orange chicken taste
Grilled Beef Tenderloin Skewers
the beef was really tender and it's served with kimchi sprout. really fusion style. it's located in the Garden Walk, a brand new plaza~ not very big and not a lot people either. but the food was great and the service was really nice. our waiter kept coming back to ask we if we need anything.

Cold Stone

i haven't been to cold stone since we got too many yogurt place opened in the recent years. i remember Cold stone used to be my hang out spot, but now i go to yogurtland... >v< i guess mainly it's b/c cold stone is more expensive compare w/ other ice cream shop. i ordered a mango ice cream mixed with strawberry on the right. coffee w/ Oreo on the left. the mango flavor wasn't very rich. it's good to try something "American" but i think I'll choose yogurt over cold stone.

Fullerton Arboretum

another cost-free afternoon~~ free admission to the park which located right next to Cal. State Fullerton. it's an Okay-size park with the section of desert and forest. there's a pond in the middle of the park wich is a nice place for picnic. but i am not sure if food is allow in the park.
Desert
it got hotter when we walked toward the desert. there were few big cactus~ but most of they are still samll. i guess it's not really hot yet. there's wasn't much crowd either and it took about an hour to finish the park.

UCC Cafe

we went to UCC cafe again for breakfast. the weekend brunch is so much better than their regular food menu + it's cheaper too. The meal comes w/ free drink, coffee or tea. Breakfast runs from $5.99 ~ $ 6.99. i ordered the black tea & Bacon Mushroom Spaghetti.
Babe ordered the French Toast w/ Sausage. 說真的... 賣像不是很好... but it taste ok. the french toast is more like deep fired doughnut. it's really soft and it's better than it looks. total bill ends to be $15 dollar. the place is actually pretty busy every time we came.

Downtown Disney

we went for window shopping at downtown Disney in the afternoon. a lot new stores opened. i think it's always fun to shop in downtown Disney. i love the outdoor shopping mall like The Grove & Americana in Glendale. i was craving for some Funnel cake, but i can't find it any where... >< i guess they only have it "inside" the Disney...
Crystal Cathedral
we stop by the cathedral since it's around the area. there was an event going on for graduation. so we sneak inside to took some pictures. the inside looks a lot bigger than i thought. but the outside.. kinda remind me of vegas.. ha

Diamond Family Spa

it's my 1st time visiting the spa. i've been to hot spring in Japan, but that's kinda different. i took my mom there since i got the admission coupon from my friend. i took my swimming suit with me and i was kinda in shocked when i went inside the spa b/c everybody was naked! wearing swimming suit seen awkward here... after bath, we went to the Main Hall. it's the area to rest, eat, and watch TV. they even got karaoke room! but it's all in Korean... i love how their floor was heated and their different kind of steam rooms. i went to try each one, from cold to hot. it was a fun 1st time experience. but i wouldn't come here very often to spend $25 on bath...

The Shack

so many restaurants opened around RH like Boiling Crab. Shack is also a place to eat Cajun seafood but with no wait! i guess the restaurant just opened, so not a lot people knew. they got promo on buy 2 lbs and get 1 lb free during their grand opening. we came here during weekday for dinner and this place was empty!! it was kind weird and finally another group came in after a while. the taste is similar to Boiling Crab. Restaurant.com is also selling the coupon, i guess they really need some business.

Scoops

Lychee Cranberry & Guinness Tiramisu
Scoops gets lots different kind of flavors!! very creative... and it actually taste pretty good!! i love Lychee ice cream and Guinness goes so well with Tiramisu!! baby had the Strawberry w/ Pineapple & Hazelnut coffee. also love it! there's isn't much of the Pineapple taste to it, but the ice cream itself is very rich and smooth. to be honest, the location is really ghetto... there were bunches of teenagers wondering around the area... but Scoops gets damn good ice cream.

Exposition Rose Garden

the garden is right next to the museum. i didn't know there was a rose garden last time i was here!? it's actully pretty nice to have the garden right next to the museum to take a walk after. most of the roses already bloomed during our visit and the place is quite nice and big.
i gave myself an A+ photography skills... XD

California Science Center

they get new exhibit opened! i've been here a while ago when they don't have the Aquarium yet. of course you can't compare it w/ long beach Aquarium, but it's a cute little exhibit. the place isn't very big, but it's free admission, can't ask for more.