Doesn't have a point of view
7.28.2007
photo thread
I realized that my blog has not had a photo thread for a while. I have to go back in time a little to show some.
This was our mini San Gabriel high reunion with me, Wilton, and Lillian. It was great to see him again and to be overwelmed by all the things he had to fill us in on. Unfortunately this did not take place until the night before I left for Colorado. At least I got to see him.
When Eric came to visit, Karina, Lillian, Duke and I went hiking with him at Eaton Canyon after some good dim sum at Top Island Seafood. This is a good photo of me and Lillian.
This is probably my favorite photo of the year. Karina finally got to meet Eric and they seemed to both get along very well. :)
I am going to wait another hour to make my post about eating beans so that I don't look so lame for having posted 10 times in one day. See you soon!
john lennon, i don't like your girlfriend
My friend Valerie, who I worked with at PNNL and lived with for a summer, let me know about this John Lennon tribute CD put out to raise money for Amnesty International.
I looked it up to see the artists on it. I was appalled for find out that Avril Lavigne was allowed to sing Imagine. Imagine is probably his most famous song and the one they always play when they talk about his death, meaning one of the few things like this in life which has almost brought me to tears. Luckily, I scrolled down enough to see that Jack Johnson also did a version which makes things slightly better. I have to admit that, from the clip on amazon, I actually really like Christina Aguilera's version of Mother. The emotion of that song shows through with her far-reaching voice. I also surprisingly like the Black Eyed Peas version of Power to the People. These are probably my two favorite tracks from the short clips I have heard. As much as I like some of the artists, I am not a big fan of covers as many of you know. It takes a really spectacular one to justify its creation. The postal service one is good, I guess, but I think it's funny that they appropriately picked one of the most romantic of John Lennon songs to do. I wonder what Yoko Ono has to say about this.
In conclusion, I will not be going out to buy this right away like I did with the "I am Sam" soundtrack or the "Love" soundtrack. I would buy "come together" before this which is called a soul/jazz tribute to the Beatles.
In other Beatles news, this possibly intriguing movie called "Across the Universe" will be out sometime soon. It is a musical set to Beatles songs. The main characters are named Jude and Lucy which is a bit cheesy. I'll have to see. I am also excited about the Hairspray movie coming out. I'll have to force myself out of the house to spend the money to see it.
In other music news, I am addicted to the ridiculous music quiz facebook application. Basically, I am addicted because Xi challenged me and I can never let him beat me at anything. I am the best of the two of us. For sure.
Plus, I feel good when I can correctly identify a song within one second. It feels almost good enough to balance out the fact that facebook is sucking away my soul.
to eat when I get home
I updated google reader to let me know when all of my favorite blogs update. This makes my days much more exciting, especially since my whitman e-mail address was recently taken away. This means that I also have a lot of links to tell you about. The first of these is my list of things to eat when I get home. I have decided that the selection of food in Fort Collins is much better than I expected. Still, the restaurants do not have the character of each Los Angeles/SG eatery that I long for.
1. Dim sum at the Elite, formerly New Concept
I had heard a lot of about New Concept's dim sum. I have tried Mission 261 but never went there. After reading this post, I would love to try it as soon as I get home. Those almond shrimp balls look delicious and would easily convince my mom.
Also, VERY FEW people here seem to know what dim sum even is. Apparently there are some places in Denver, thank goodness. Imagining a life without dim sum and the clank of steamers and carts and pointing furiously and green chopsticks makes me very sad. I think it's time right now to give up on Eric's good idea of being dim sum servers for Halloween because no one here would get it.
2. Pie 'n Burger
Really, I just have a craving for pie right now. Yum. Pie. It is pretty close to being my favorite dessert. I heard about their banana cream pie on good food. If I have been to this Pasadena restaurant at all, it has not been for a long time and I cannot remember it. I recently read something saying that they have the best burgers in LA too. Why haven't I been getting rhubarb pie and a chocolate shake every week?
3. 101 Noodle Express
Jonathan Gold's description of this beef roll made my mouth water. This place is walking distance from my house. I think I picked soymilk and green onion pancakes over this beef roll right before I left town, maybe regrettably. Pumpkin shrimp pork dumplings!??!? Just another way to sell a restaurant to my mom, I hope.
4. Guelaguetza Palms Restaurant
This place is far away so it is very unlikely that I will ever end up there. But, horchata topped with cantelope, red cactus fruit puree, and walnuts. I will go to great lengths to put something that unique and delicious sounding into my stomach. The mole spewing, banana leaf wrapped tamale and the corn fungus could also draw me there soon. The tamale makes me miss the Salvadoran one I had with Lillian in Culver City which seemed to use a plantain in place of masa. Yum.
5. Banh Mi and Che Cali
I love che and have been meaning to make it with mung beans and coconut milk. I'm always worried that I will get the proportions wrong and am afraid to ask Huyen who made it all the time. This place is in alhambra and according to the post, you can get 3 kinds for $2. Another thing that I should have been eating weekly.
6. Ramen
I don't really care where, but I love ramen and have a craving for that too. I can actually get that here at a place called Gohan Time. I love their name and that's why I mentioned them. Still, there is this place in Rosemead which I have heard is not as good as the one in Gardena and I just heard Jonathan Gold talk about some spicy ramen in Little Tokyo. I could also get some ideas from the rameniac, I'm sure.
I know and you know that there are more, but I feel better sharing those for now.
Also, I mentioned Calvin Trillen in my last post. I have to credit him and his book American Fried for changing and expanding my idea of eating. I never so much appreciated simply delicious, completely inelegant food until I read his book. For example, I still remember his description of the best barbecue pork sandwich that he has ever had and still wish to someday eat it. Recently I found this website, which is apparently by America's road food authorities. Having traveled so much in my life, it is unfortunate that I am just finding out about their book. Their photo of blueberry sour cream pie makes me want to drive all the way to Salina, UT. My parents are in Cape Cod right now and I remembered seeing an episode of the annoying $40 a day where Rachael Ray ate a lobster sandwich, which I guess is called a lobster roll, from a stand. Luckily, my mom was able to eat one yesterday and reported back today that it was delicious. I am very happy for her.
millions of posts
Yes, there are more coming. There have been quite a few post ideas swirling around in my head for a while, but I have not been motivated to do anything about them.
This is the personal one.
Fort Collins is pretty great so far. The town is pretty great, but i have seen very little of its greatness. At this point, I don't know many people and I am not outgoing enough to ask them to participate in activities with me. Fort Collins is also very well-oriented for young people, by which I mean that their social activities circle around drinking. There seem to be fewer family events going on than there were in Washington.
Somehow, when I lived by myself in Richland, I was never this bored or unmotivated. I never sat for hours alone in my room wondering what I was missing out on outside of its boundaries. I would even occasionally go for walks along the river or go shopping at Target or to the library or on a run for a black raspberry shake at Zip's drive-through. I even went to a few concerts by myself.
Here, I have tried looking on the internet for things to do, which always works in LA. I have tried looking for reviews of places to eat which also ALWAYS works in LA. Here, I have found very few things that I am willing to try on my own and it is pretty much unlike me not to make the effort.
But Fort Collins is great. There is a bike path on almost every street. There are places to go hiking just 5 minutes away. There are about 20 public parks including an ever expanding community garden. The downtown has all sort of cute shops. There is an independent movie theater which also serves food. There's also a $2 theater and a drive-in. There are lots of vegetarian restaurants and earth-conscious businesses. There's a pretty good grocery store which is a little like a Whole Foods but cheaper and less fancy. There are also supposedly the best donuts in America, even praised by Calvin Trillen, my forever favorite food writer. I am going to try very hard to force myself to leave my house tomorrow morning to buy an apple fritter from them because I have to see what all the praise is about. Just yesterday, I went out for boba with my group, inspired by the other girl from California, and found a restaurant whose second story is a boba stand featuring lollicup products. There is even a local radio station which features good bluegrass, americana, world, and even rockabilly music.
I can't believe that I only have one more weekend before I start graduate school things. I can't believe that so many of my weekends have gone to waste.
My new housemate just got here yesterday. She has a dog that is rather large and pants a lot. I am afraid to open my door and look at him.
asian
The other thing that I was not ready to deal with upon moving was being asian all over again. I forgot after spending a year at home how it feels to be the asian person and no longer the mostly white person or the no one really cares person. I liked not having to think about it, really, at all. I don't think I've very often at home gotten the question of how many japanese or ohio/michigan traditions I commonly practice with my family other than whether or not I speak Japanese.
The other day one of my coworkers finally found out that I am half Japanese. The grad student who is sort of training me over the summer is also half Japanese. She, with much sincerity, came to the conclusion that this similarity between the two of us was the reason for us "hanging out." First of all, this guy and I have never hung out without a few of our other group members. Those less than 4 times were only short meals. It is not like we suddenly became best friends because we could relate to one another sooo well. He likes things like baseball, fly fishing, and country music which I know next to nothing about. I know that I shouldn't be so mad about this tiny comment, but it reminded me that there are likely more to come. I very much hope not.
los angeles, I'm yours
I remember reading a magazine article about the Decemberists a few years ago. They remarked that their song, "los angeles, i'm yours" is a very critical view of Los Angeles but how its residents do not seem to pick up on this. They do not seem insulted, but sing loudly along whenever the band plays LA shows.
I don't think that people from Los Angeles realize how much the rest of America hates it. I don't think I ever realized until I left. Actually, I would hardly have considered myself to be of Los Angeles until I had to stand up for it. It was not until I left my home that I had to understand it and make it my own.
I wouldn't mind so much if people just said, "oh, i've been there once and it wasn't so great," but instead most people seem passionate about the subject.
This is my ode to Los Angeles. This is my attempt to tell people one more time how wonderful it really is.
The two things that make Los Angeles wonderful for me are its diversity and its food. I know that those hardly count as two separate things, but I don't just mean ethnic diversity. The people who make Los Angeles their home are diverse in many ways. Places like west hollywood are very different from east los angeles and from neighborhoods like silver lake. Los Angeles has a thai town, little tokyo, china town, little armenia, filipino town, korea town, little ethiopia, and probably a few others that I am forgetting. Even better, there are organizations like this that give tours of these places to help Los Angeles residents discover how great their city is. Although I have yet to find a gordita much like the ones in Walla Walla, Los Angeles has almost every type of food imaginable. From what I've been hearing on Good Food, Los Angeles' many markets also sell almost every vegetable and fruit that exists within the United States. Los Angeles has not only wonderful fine dining, but some of the best cheap meals like the many hot dog and hamburger stands, taquerias, and, my favorite, noodle soup from almost every country in east Asia for about $5. Those are just to name a few. Even though I cannot say this is truth, I also like to believe that people in Los Angeles are pretty adventurous. Because of the diversity of LA, it is hard not to have been around all sorts of people and to have learned from their stories and experiences. My additional reason for LA being great is all of the things to do. By default of it being a big city, there are some great bands that come through and some great venues to house them. There are all sorts of museums and art galleries, both big and small. There are things like felt club and things like fallen fruit. There are all sorts of amazing people and projects all around, all the time.
I don't think that finding the beauty of Los Angeles is easy. It took me 18 years to even realize that I lived right next to it. There are so many places that I am still eager to visit and explore.
I also point out that I am not trying to say that Los Angeles is better than your city. I have to agree that if I was comparing, Los Angeles would not be the best because, again, it takes a long time to appreciate. Even so I felt good reading this entry on Eating LA. The last line of the third comment down especially echoes my feelings. My personal complaint is about the transportation in LA. The difficulty in traveling from east la to west la, even with a car, probably makes it harder for visitors to explore and understand, promoting people's hatred. I also think that Los Angeles could do a lot to make its neighborhoods more friendly for bicyclers. All I wish for is that everyone who visits LA would try a little harder to enjoy it.
When I moved away from Los Angeles for the second time in my life, I wasn't prepared to defend it all over again. This is my last attempt to vocalize my feelings because actually speaking to people has produced little result in my experience. These experiences have left me feeling disappointing, sad, and, at this point, even angry. I have tried hard to pretend not to care, but I am not very good at it.
From now on, I am going to start proudly wearing my shirt that says "I like NY, but not as much as Los Angeles," every chance that I get.
