Shin sen gumi This!

Shinsengumi Shabu Shabu

Location:
1695 W Artesia Blvd
Gardena, CA 90247

Entertainment Value: Cooking your own meal and Sochu

Food Cost: $$ According to Yelp

To my surprise, not many non-Asians know of shabu shabu. The Japanese term, "Shabu Shabu" literally translates to "Swish Swish", because it is the act of using your chopsticks to swish the thin cut beef, pork, or chicken slices in a boiling pot of broth that makes it so fun.  To the average American, you'd probably wonder, "Why would I pay for a dining experience where I have to cook the meat and vegetables myself?" Well, I guess it's a matter of perspective. For one, you get to select what type of raw foods you'd like to throw in the pot, and as the steam rises from the boiling medley you've concocted, moments later you can immediately eat it, freshly hot and as firm or soft as you'd like it--since you cooked it. And while you're waiting for it to cool slightly, you can still see the evaporating heat trailing above your chopsticks, and when it is dipped into citrus salty ponzu sauce and peanut based Goma sauce, slabbed on a bowl of hot rice, it not only gives you fresh hot food but it also gives you a sense of accomplishment.

Shabu Shabu places are a place to socialize with friends over shochu (the Korean version is called Soju), which has its many variations from distilled barley, soba, or rice to "imo-jochu", which is distilled from sweet potatoes. Usually around 25-40% alcohol content, Shochu is normally enjoyed over ice, lemon, and water, although it can be combined with Calpico, fruit drinks, and soda water. You can use various Japanese soda drinks from your local Mitsuwa or Nijiya to make your own version of chu-hi, an alcoholic fruity soft drink for those that like their cocktails to be carbonated. So while you are waiting for your veggies and meat to cook, you can Gan Bai with your buddies, lover (s?), or business associates.

Want more than just boiled meat and vegetables? You can also grill your own meat, over natural stone coals. They have a wide assortment of meat, from pork belly, beef intestine, Short rib, duck, squid, the works. I personally recommend the beef tongue and for the appetizers, the chicken Nankara, or deep fried chicken cartilage.

The next best thing to a fun and delicious meal is that you'll come out of the place feeling full and HEALTHY. Yes, how often can you leave a restaurant with a pot belly and a seductive aftertaste and not have to feel guilty about putting on the pounds afterwards? If we did the McDonald's test and ate Shabu Shabut for one month straight, we'd come out of it not only alive but we'd manage to trim down the fat. Don't believe me? Well, maybe I'll start another blog called "30 days of Shabu Shabu" and find out! I'd probably end up being the poster child for Shabu Shabu like Jared Fogle was for Subway. Hmm... not a bad idea...anybody else interested in going in on it with me? Post your comments below!

Another great thing about this particular Shabu Shabu place above all the other ones is their customer service. It is top notch. As soon as you enter, the entire staff bows and says, "Irashaimase", which in Japanese means "Welcome, thank you for your patronage"... just kidding.. they don't say that last part after welcome. But in Japanese, it sounds so long and they are so friendly that it sounds that way. When you leave, they all firmly shout in unison, "Arigatou gozaimashita", or "Thank you very much", as if you went out of your way to lend a hand for a friend.

 FYI: Just to clarify for those of you not familiar with these two terms, Shabu Shabu is part of Japanese cuisine and has an array of certain types of vegetables (nappa cabbage, tofu, green onions, shiitake mushrooms, and vermicelli), and the meat selection is limited to beef, unless it is sukiyaki, which doesn't have set limits on types of meat or vegetables. With that said, the Japanese Sukiyaki is like the Chinese version of Hot Pot, in that both types of cuisine have no limits to what vegetables or meat you can put into the boiling broth. The only exception is that Chinese Hot Pot tend to be spicier and if we decide to get even more technical on this subject, there are also regional versions of Chinese hot pot, such as Mongolian and Szechuan, but I'll leave that discussion for another blog.

Iron Chef Cook Off!

Iron Chef Cook Off!

Location:

2400 Jefferson St
Torrance, CA 90510

Entertainment Value: Friends, Food, Fierce No Mercy Competition, Alcohol and Fun

Food Cost: $10 in the pot so the head chefs could go and hunt for ingredients

Don't let the fact that friends, alcohol, and parks fool you into thinking this is just recreation. Beneath the veneer of laughters, clinks from shot glasses, and delicious food, there is a firestorm brewing. The three head chefs, Chef Tony, Chef Gus, and Chef Roderick, all hope to lead their team to the glory of fine grilling--bbq at its highest aesthetic sizzle. On a fine Sunday afternoon at Wilson park, they've come to test their wits and prove their culinary skill. The mission? To make a three course entree based on the secret ingredient that is revealed only moments before the game starts.

Each entree wll be judged on three criterion:

1. Flavor/Taste

2. Presentation

3. How clever the secret ingredient has been integrated into the dish

Sweet Tea Vodka...Ohhh yeah~

Team Tony hustling and bustling with their mushroom burger

To make it even more interesting? Once the teams were given the secret ingredient, Floral Peppers, they are only given an hour and a half to shop for their ingredients on a $50 budget. They must be at their grilling stations within that time frame or else they would be penalized for their time grilling. Once the party have all arrived, we have the lightening round. This quirky part of Iron Chef is a way for each team to test their fitness in food preparation. At a head to head relay match, each team has to effectively complete a preparation challenge. In our cookout case, one member had to first successfully cut and quartz a pineapple in order for the second team member to proceed onto finely chopping onions, which then allowed for the final team member to squeeze enough lime juice to pass the designated mark on the cup. First place winners, Team Tony, received an extra 2 point advantage in judging marks. Second place winners, Team Gus, receive a 1 point advantage.

After the lightening round, teams receive an additional hour and a half to come up with three different entrees. Throughout this time, our faciliator, David, and our host, Orn, is monitoring the progress of each team, while chaos unleashes--organized chaos that is. We hear orders being barked from Team Roderick's group, cheese melting on propane burners, knives chomping down on spicy peppers, and salmon flying in the air. It was a brutal race against time, but we could see how hard each team member was working. Sweat dripping down on smokey grills, coals sizzling under the tongs clamping down on burger meat, bacon wrapped sausages, and chicken breasts, and feet shuffling around to get this and that all added to the excitement. 

Once time was up, amazingly all the teams finished on time, through sheer versatility and adrenaline induced shot calls, made possible from good teamwork and top notch leadership. Food tasting judges, Lackena, Johnny, a mystery judge, and yours truely sat down before nine varietated and orally seductive dishes.  Since a picture is worth a thousand words, we'll break down the product of their culinary endeavors... but before I do I plead a disclaimer!! I did not cook these so my descriptions are very limited. I'd like to encourage the judges to come forward and write their description on the comments section below. I apologize in advance if I lack the details in the formulation of the product that could fully describe food presented here. So in any case, here are their finalized products:   (Please don't forget to take a moment to fill out the survey poll to the left column of this blog after you are finished viewing the food)  


Team Gus:

Appetizer: Rasberry, blackberry, mango, strawberry fruit parfait; Second dish: Ceviche

Entree 2: Bacon wrapped sausage with green peppers with toasted bun

Entree 3: Hearty all American burger with melted jack cheese; bell peppers on the side

Team Tony:

Appetizer: Bacon Stuffed yellow peppers with....? glaze.. help me here Tony..

Appetizer 2:  salty and spicy salsa

Appetizer 2: Melted cheese dip with green and red bell cubes

Entree 2+3: Bell Peppers on top of bacon wrapped hotdog; Portabello mushroom with melted Jack cheese blended inside the meat 

Team Roderick:

Appetizer: Mango salsa

                                               

Entree 2: Chicken breast with green onions layered on top, siracha sauce dipping in yellow chilli cavity

Entree 3 + 4: bacon wrapped sausage with asparagus, grilled pinapple slice, and juicy burger with all the bacon, red onion, tomatos, lettuce in between

 So ladies and fellas, judge for yourself. We can tell you who won, but we don't want to biase you. Which team do you think deserved to take the prize of good food based on the pictures?

Happiest Place on Earth

Disneyland
Location:
 W Ball Rd & S Disneyland Dr
 Anaheim, CA 92802
Entertainment Cost: Free if you have a friend who works for Disney like our good friend Orn.
Normal price: Find out here
Entertainment Value: Amusement rides, Disney Character magic, Watercolor show, Captain EO 3D (MJ's Back!), and Scenic beauty.
Food Cost: $8 for Smoked Turkey Legs

Bollywood in California Adventure; Glowfest props in background

The beauty of living in So Cal is that you can go to Disneyland an infinite number of times and there will always be surprises after the umpteenth time back. Disney is constantly expanding, a life force pulsing behind the gigantic corporate machine of capitalism, a manufacturer of fantasy and dreams for both children and adults alike. Disney is the Jimmy Cricket on your left shoulder, the Fairy God Mother on your magic dust filled dreams, and Tinkerbell guiding you in the dark night, who raised you since you were able to open your eyes and understand human speech, or even if you didn't. Growing up Disney was there to give you a temporary respite from school hassles like making the grades, making friends that would laugh at your bad jokes, and getting the nerve to talk to the crush you had in middle school. When college bound, you occasionally went back to the occasional Disney cartoon classics like a nice pair of birthstone earrings you got as a toddler that you'd take out to remind you that it is still not too late to look fashionable in it. Now that you are a full blown adult, you realize the fundamental need to keep it at your side, cling to it like a magical amulet that, over time, needs polishing and whispers of wishful thinking.

Mickey Fountain in front of Monster's Inc. Ride

That is why time and again we look to Disneyland for comfort and a way to get away. Maybe I'm biased since my heart still sings every time I go on a Sleep Beauty Ride or watch Ariel rock it during the Disney Parade (two of my favorite Disney "old school" animations...God, can I call it that now? Wow I'm getting old...no disrespect to the 70's and 80's babies). So now after my 9+ times at Disney, I had expected to be bored but was met with pleasant surprise instead--kind of like discovering a pomegranate tree growing in your backyard after that one incident where you had lazily eaten it without a trash can nearby. The experienc is altogether... serendipity.

So Cal residents tend to be fickle, we are easily bored, and hard to entertain (especially if we've seen it more than once). Yes, as So Co PeePo, we have all ridden Matterhorn, Splash Mountain, Space Mountain, Star Tours, It's a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, and Haunted Mansion many of times. And even the newer rides built in the new millennium like: Indiana Jones and Buzz Light Year, or California Adventure's Ride Additions: Tower of Terror, California Screamin', Monster's Inc, etc., won't make us lose sleep from excitement the night before. However, there are some newer additions and new relevations since 2008, which was the last time I went to Disney.

Madhatter Tea Party and Matterhorn backdrop

Best darn smoked Turkey Leg ever...watch out OC fair

Five things I've discovered that doesn't make Disney an old Fart:
1. Disney's Nightastic Fireworks at 10:00pm during weekdays and 9:00pm during weekends

2. Toy Story ball tugging 3D shooter ride (Upgraded Buzz Light Year ride)

3. Gianormous Turkey Legs are still bomb

4. Captain EO Tribute 3D Show is Back (MJ's back on the map)

5. Glow Fest (Electronica, Dancers, and Alcohol!)

6. Disney's World of Color Show

Mr. Potato Head and Mr. David Dang Head. It's a head off!

Okay, I lied. There's six. Unfortunately, we couldn't get tickets to the World of Color show. This show is _____________. I don't know. But please comment on this blog if you did go and let me know how it was for you. Rumors are you have to get fast passes to get admitted well in advance in order to have any chance of seeing it. For those that love to live in the moment, as I'd like to think of myself as (or at least as my alibi for being lazy), if you arrive that day to retrieve your tickets, I would recommend diving to the Grizzly Run fast pass machine over by California Adventure. As a a loyal reader of my blog, I will show my gratitude by giving you the exact location of Grizzly Run so there will be no time wasted asking directions or getting lost:

Remember: Focus! Don't worry about running over strollers or old grannies, it is either you or them soldier!

This is your hit. Burn after reading!

Can't wait to see the show? See it here:



Should the carpe diem method fail, your mission can still be salvaged if you are tactful and prepare ahead of time. The other (and probably wiser) way to not only get a good front view of the show without the hassle of waiting hours to get good seating, but also to get a decent meal while there, is to make dinner reservations at Ariel's Grotto. The dinner package is around $36  per person; note I said "package", so I'm guessing that it is a decent meal. One that involves good farting and burping afterwards.

Bringing Black Back!

One other thing I must elborate on is the Captain EO Tribute show; It is one of my all time favorite 3D shows...and probably the only 3D show I've experienced in the 80's. I love how the teleprompter warns us not to put on the glasses "for our protection" until the show has started. That cautionary warning was made during a time when Lasik services weren't rendered to the average consumer. The tribute show really kept it's 80's originality--Special optical and mechanical effects (when SPX still conjured awe in us) in all its noise and large pixilated glory.  Michael Jackson plays Captain EO, a traveling space captain out to deliver goods and bring peace for the world. He is out to find the lost beacon, only to luckily crash upon it. But his luck runs out as he is captured by the evil machine witch before he is able to complete his mission. I won't give away the best part of what he does next, but I will tell you that there are a lot of rainbow colors (80's style), popping, Michael moonwalking, and aaaaaaaaah that only MJ could do (imitated but never duplicated). And since Disney owns the exclusive rights to it, you won't be finding this MJ pop routine anywhere else but here where dreams and reality meet.    

Tower of Terror and Hollywood's Backlot Backdrop

Reach for the Stars

Griffith Observatory

Location: Griffith Observatory

Entertainment Value: Suped up Imax Experience to the 10th power...Dome Style!

Entertainment Cost: $7 for the Valkyrie show at the Samuel Oschin Planetarium
Food Location: Orochon
Food Cost: $8-10 for a huge bowl of Ramen with custom toppings

Imagine being inside the sun, shielded from any harm or discomfort by top notch magical immunity that only a hypothetical like this could afford. Though the temperature is a cool 65 degrees, the room is filled with bright orange and tinged red colors, bombarding your visual senses, convincing you that you are indeed inside the sun, watching each atom colliding into the other. Next, you break free of the sun's inner core, hovering above the horizon of the surface, witnessing the solar arches protrude ballarinas on the tip of their toes.

You are transposed into a wild ride of astrological wonders, visually superior to Disney's Back to the Future ride (and without the sudden jolts). We start under the Los Angeles twilight, then are transposed to the artic Icelands. There we witness the stubborn sun that won't go down during the summers and the perpetual darkness during the winters.  With a familiar summer movie trailer voice, our real time narrator gives detailed and timely explanations about how the star filled universe we see today were once perceived in Norse Mythology as Gods like Lode, Thu, and Breid, who commanded the skies, the earth, and the underworld. Constellations like Hellewagon, Friggerock, and Dain watched  the battles on earth, between Niflheim, the Ice God, and Muspell, the Fire God. The best  part of the show was witnessing the aurora. If you were ever confused as to how an aurora comes about, even the slowest learner can understand the technicalities behind a graphically astounding display of earth's magnetic field. I could go on and on about an aurora birth, but why not see it for yourself? Watch as if you are the God that made it. It is incredible to witness such graphic effects come to a full 180. The Valkyrie show is a must see; if not for the dome sized screens, the high definition scenary, then for the actor that narrates real time throughout the entire show, or the beauty of watching the heavens in an angel's point of view .

If for some reason you are not able to obtain a ticket, (Note: Tickets are not available for pre-sale and must be bought one hour before the show starts, so make sure you arrive on time!)  you can still watch the pendulum, the statue of famous astronomers, the many interactive booths, touch meteorites, peak  through telescopes, and best of all, the watch the astounding panoramic view of Los Angeles. Lastly, if you want to find a place that gives a good hike, Griffith Park has dozens of trails with picnic tables and scenic points. You can see the Hollywood sign so clearly it's almost as if you could touch it. And the best part of it all? Well,  to the tune of the old adage, "The best things are free". 

It's that Ole Town Flavor

Old Town Pasadena
Location: Old Town Parking, Map, and Directions
Entertainment Value: Outdoor Shopping, Architectural Aesthetics, Downtown Stroll for the Bourgeois lifestyle
Entertainment Cost: Window shopping= free; Other shopping= varies

Food Cost: Varies from restaurant to restaurant (see Old Town Pasadena Eats)

Sure, the beauty of the arches, the villas, the earth tone hues plastered on brick buildings tickle our visual senses, and sure, the fancy selections displayed behind windows of vintage shops, boutiques, specialities stores, and namebrand stores encapsulates us, but what really draws both travelers and locals to this rich city is the food. They say a picture is worth a thousand words. But here in Old Town, the food is a worth a thousand miles...of traveling saved that is!  Just imagine a place where all the best cuisines from around the world are readily available in a two mile radius.  There are 113+ restaurants in a 21 block district, where centuries of regional traditions are refined, like wine, to become today's modern dining experience--this is the place where "fusion" cuisine, a relatively modern phenomenon, thrives freely like foxtails in a prairie.

                                                                                                            

In what other two mile block could you find so many ethnic foods in one place: Tibetian, French-Belgian, Mezzbaan Indian, Italian, British, Spanish, Japanese, Mexican, Chinese, Equadorian, American, Thai, Peruvian, Vietnamese, Argentinian, Afgani, all waiting for your patronage? From regional tastes like Barc elona, New York Deli, Philly's Best, Seattle's Cafe, Sonoma's Dish Bistro and Bar, to Fusion restaurants like Chinese-Japanese's Wokano, French-Belgian's Quadrupel Brasserie, California-European's Greenstreet Tavern, French-Italian's Dish Bistro and Bar, and Chinese-American's 54 Holly Restaurant to specialty eateries like Green Earth Vegan Cuisine, Cafe Alibi, and Le Pain Quotidien. Thirsty? How about tea from Tea Rose Garden, Scarlet Tea Room, Bird Pick Tea and Herb, Chado Tea Room, or boba drinks? Or what about beer from 72 North, Lucky Baldwin's Pub, or perhaps wine from Vertical Wine Bistro, Red White and Bluezz, POP Champagne and Dessert Bar. And speaking of desserts, how about Violet's Cakes? Tutti Gelati's italian icecream? Rocket Fizz Soda pop? Fondue from Melting Pot? Creme de la Crepe? Dot's Cupcakes?  You get my drift? With so many selections, it's like picking candy from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It's a food savant's library of exploration.

We headed to Mi Piace to celebrate our friends,  iana and Joseph's, engagement. The Italian place was packed with people waiting. Luckily we had made reservations and was seated almost immediately (make sure all your party is present. They will not seat you otherwise). We ordered pastas and antipastas, we ordered champagne to celebrate, but what makes this swinger's lounge a titillating pursuit is the delectable desserts. The tiramisu, soaked in Brandy, and baked in the finest technologies available, just melts into the palate after a fine Italian entree. We also tried the creme brulee. Magnifico! With the caramelized flame torched outer layering covering the lightly battered creme like frozen ice over a lake, it is a mouth watering delight to polish off a meal fit for The Council of Ministers. Now that's powerful!