Friday, April 26, 2013

THE SENSE OF AN ENDING by Julian Barnes

A book review. Full disclosure: I listened to an unabridged audio book read by a gentleman who was very British. Whether that helped or hindered my experience, I do not know.


Halfway through THE SENSE OF AN ENDING, a mystery is revealed. A mystery that involves a diary. Well, it's more of a puzzle than a mystery. It's a small puzzle and the pieces are few and large. I don't fancy myself particularly good at playing detective, but this puzzle seemed fairly obvious to me, being that it was so small and the pieces so large. I assumed the protagonist, an intelligent man, would put this one together pretty quickly and then we could get on with the real mystery...what's in the diary?!?

Instead, the remainder of the book is just about putting the puzzle together, which is always annoying as a reader to be so far ahead of the protagonist. But what was consistently refreshing throughout was the introspective, insightful reflection upon the magic of first love and the frustration and confusion when it falls apart. ***

Rating System:

**** = Amazing, Fantastic, Life-Changing
*** = Excellent & Worth a Read
** = Not a Complete Waste of Time but I Probably Wouldn't Recommend It
* = Blech!

And I don't do that half-star nonsense.

Saturday, April 20, 2013

A Little Taste of Taiwan

After a day at the Santa Anita Racetrack, we get dinner at Din Tai Fung, a world famous dumpling house. Be afraid of the line. It will be long. But, no matter how busy the place is, the food is consistent, consistent, consistent. Seriously, Mussolini would be impressed.

We always order the same items, starting out with the sauteed string beans with garlic.


I don't know if they are sauteed as much as deep fried in oil. Either way, along with being slathered in garlic, I can't imagine any kids pushing these away.

Next, onto the famous juicy pork dumplings.


AKA xiaolongbao, XLB, or soup dumplings. The dumplings are wrapped with pork and a congealed mixture that liquifies as the dumplings cook. So, they're not lying with the juicy description in the title. Here's a look at the inside of one.


The liquidy goodness spills into the spoon. I find the dumplings are best dipped in vinegar with a small piece of ginger. It truly is a perfect bite of food.

The meal ends with red bean buns.


The red bean mixture is quite sweet and I love the texture.


Always a great meal.

Friday, April 19, 2013

OLIVE KITTERIDGE by Elizabeth Strout

A book review.


Olive Kitteridge is not, as one would refer to in screenplay talk, a likeable character. She speaks her mind without any sense of repercussion or others' feelings. Fortunately, this makes her fiercely interesting, which is better than likeable any day.

OLIVE KITTERIDGE is not just about Olive, it's a collection of short stories where she is sometimes the lead, but often stands at the sidelines while another person residing in her beloved Crosby, Maine takes the spotlight and has their story exposed for all to see. It's an effective tactic, one that is as revealing as Olive herself in her unabashed honesty. It's a book about the deception in simple moments and simple lives. Elizabeth Strout writes about them with the reverence they deserve. ****

Rating System:

**** = Amazing, Fantastic, Life-Changing
*** = Excellent & Worth a Read
** = Not a Complete Waste of Time but I Probably Wouldn't Recommend It
* = Blech!

And I don't do that half-star nonsense.

Saturday, April 13, 2013

Santa Anita Derby 2013

We've missed the last two Santa Anita Derbys due to being out of the country. And it was particularly heartbreaking last year when SA Derby winner I'll Have Another went on to win the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness, and we missed seeing his majesty in person. We also missed seeing his lead pony, the great Lava Man, who we watched win many a Grade I at Santa Anita over the years.

But, alas, it's a new year, new three-year-olds. Goldencents looked good in his win. Perhaps Doug O'Neill can make it two in a row with this one. Just don't hurt yourself before May 4.


The filly Beholder looked great in the Santa Anita Oaks. I don't know if she's going to the Kentucky Oaks, but I hope she does. I think she has a good shot of winning.

UPDATE: After being a complete spaz throughout the post parade, literally falling over herself and unseating jockey Garrett Gomez, Beholder finished second by half a length in the Kentucky Oaks to long shot Princess of Sylmar.


We also got to see the Budweiser Clydesdales.


The oldest two were in the front at 13 and 15.


Pretty impressive.


Friday, April 12, 2013

HOW THE DEAD DREAM by Lydia Millet

A book review.


HOW THE DEAD DREAM felt like a few distinct story lines that never came together, as though the book was actually four short stories that happened to have the same lead character. As soon as I became invested in one of the stories, it ended, never to be revisited.

The writing was perfectly fine, but I didn't feel satiated at the end of it. I would recommend this to someone who's in the mood for short stories with open endings. **

Rating System:

**** = Amazing, Fantastic, Life-Changing
*** = Excellent & Worth a Read
** = Not a Complete Waste of Time but I Probably Wouldn't Recommend It
* = Blech!

And I don't do that half-star nonsense.

Saturday, April 6, 2013

The Lazy Ox Canteen, Again

We enjoyed our first trip to the Lazy Ox Canteen so much that we decided to go back for brunch. Full disclosure: We made another previous trip for lunch but the camera was left behind, thus, no blog post. So we knew brunch would be good going in.

First up, some Pig Ear Chicharrones.


Crispy, salty, with a distinct pork flavor. Not at all greasy, like the pig ear experience I had at Church and State. The salsa verde and Cholula sauce were perfect compliments.

For my main course, I was in a Burger mood.


Basic burger. Cheddar, raw red onion, leaf of lettuce, mayo, Dijon, good bun. I was specifically asked if I wanted it medium-well, to which the server realized his mistake and corrected to medium-rare. We had a laugh because I definitely wanted it medium-rare. Ironically, when it arrived it was medium-well. It seems my burgers are rarely cooked to the requested temperature, but I'm not the type of person to send it back. Mostly because I'd have to wait for another one and I'm impatient. But I think quality beef will be good even if it's overcooked. This meat was fatty enough that it was still moist and juicy.

Hubs had the CrOX Ma Damn!


Typical croque madame. The ham was very good.

Dessert is listed on the menu as a Chocolate Chip Cookie.


But it's baked to order in a cast iron skillet and topped with vanilla ice cream. The cookie had hazelnuts in it, too, which was unique.

All in all, another fine meal from the Lazy Ox.

Thursday, April 4, 2013

Susan Feniger's STREET Take Two

From her onscreen personality during many different reality TV shows about cooking, Susan Feniger comes off as funny and charming. A few years ago on my birthday, Hubs took me to one of her restaurants, STREET, which I had very much wanted to go to. I ordered green curry. I got something that had a lot of coconut milk, a little curry, and was probably green because of the vast amount of lime it contained. I have a high tolerance for acid, but this was an overwhelming amount of lime. It was the worst curry I've ever had. It was also the most expensive.

So that was a bummer.

Since then, STREET has started serving brunch. And I had a Groupon. Woo-hoo! Unfortunately, I forgot to read the fine print of said Groupon, the whole reason we went, so we ending up paying full price for brunch. Boo. Was it worth it?

The main dish I wanted to try was the Kaya Toast.


Coconut jam between grilled bread. You dip the bread in the egg and swirl it around in the soy. Mmmm. Perfect bite of food. Sweet, salty, rich, crunchy, and soft. It tasted like Asia. I could have easily eaten another order by myself.

I wanted to try an Angry Egg because I am a huge fan of the deviled egg.


It's a basic deviled egg with green sriracha and Malaysian hot chile. The egg wasn't anything special and the sauces didn't have a ton of flavor. Mostly heat and not much else. Meh.

The Chicken + Waffle Croquettes sounded interesting. I'm a big fan of Roscoe's Chicken and Waffles, so I was hoping for a unique spin.


This dish was all over the place. I liked the poached eggs and the greens. The eggs were perfectly cooked and the greens were perfectly seasoned, maybe with fish sauce? They had a something-something that I couldn't place, but it suited the greens perfectly. The waffle wasn't crispy and had no distinct flavor. It tasted and had the texture of a waffle from the freezer heated in a microwave. Belgium is crying. There, there. Brace yourself, it gets worse.

The waffle came with something on top that was described as spicy maple sauce. It wasn't spicy and was reminiscent in flavor and color to Smucker's caramel in a jar. I have no idea why this was on my waffle, syrup would've been just fine, but there it was. It was not good. The chicken croquette was fine. It was basically a deep fried chicken sausage ball. But that sauce, man. I saw another table where the waffle was barely touched. I heard them tell their server that it was "weird." Yep. It was that.

We also ordered the Croatian Apple Fritters.


Our server asked if we wanted them as dessert, since they were so sweet. I'm not a huge fan of the super sweet, so I was nervous. But the sweetness level was fine, normal pastry sweetness. Unfortunately, the fritters were very chewy. As in, it was hard to get a clean bite into them. Maybe razor blades would've worked. There was some tugging and yanking going on, which is unacceptable for a fried dough coated in a sticky whiskey cider sauce. And there was no apple flavor whatsoever. Were they called apple fritters because of the apple butter in the sauce? If so, that's misleading. There was, however, a crap ton of orange zest. It didn't even list orange on the menu, and all you could taste was orange. No thank you. Orange dessert doesn't do it for me. Especially orange dessert that I can't chew.

We still have our Groupon that we've already paid for, so we have to use it. I'd be happy to get the Kaya  Toast again and try something new. Maybe the chilaquiles? Fingers crossed. Right now STREET's about 1 for 10.

Tuesday, April 2, 2013

Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie

Easy, easy, easy. Just sweet enough and has a lot of protein.


1/2 cup low fat yogurt
1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 small banana, peeled and cut into thirds
1 T peanut butter
1/2 tsp honey
pinch of salt
pinch of nutmeg
2 pinches of cinnamon
4 ice cubes

Combine all ingredients in a blender. Makes 1 smoothie. About 375 calories.