Ngu Binh Restaurant

Bun bo Hue #2

Bun bo Hue #2

My intern took me here for lunch today. From yelp it has over 60 reviews which made me totally wanna try here!As we enter the restaurant the lady didn’t speak a word of ENGLISH. The menu are under the glass panel on the table…everything was in Vietnamese, not a single word of English… HORROR Thank god my intern. understand Vietnamese. She was able to order food for us.

Well, I ordered Bun bo Hue (#2 on the menus) Bun bo Hue is the spicy pork soup which was super good! The soup is loaded with beef, coagulated pig's blood, pig's feet pork cakes, and topped with onions, cilantro, and scallions. On the side they also gave me a plate of bean sprouts, lettuce, herbs, banana flower/blossom, and a couple wedges of lime.

Anyway, on with the Banh Beo and Banh Nam #11 & 13...it was quite delicious! Fresh, soft, warm, just steamed to perfection; the texture is fluffy, not too hard nor too soft to where it breaks apart; the dried shrimp pieces on top of the Banh Beo added a chewy texture which complimented the steamed cake, and once it gets dipped into the non-fishy fish sauce~

The portions are so big I couldn’t even finish half and I am super full. This place is really cheap and tasty.

Ngu Binh Restaurant

14072 Magnolia St

Westminster, CA

Hot Stuff Cafe

Hot Stuff Cafe

Alice, my elementary school buddy took me to Hot Stuff Café for lunch today. It’s really good to see her again! Thanks to her, now I know another new place to eat around San Gabriel area. I never know where to eat while I am around that area. I recalled when I was in college I love to go to Hot Stuff Café but for some reason it was closed down. Hot Stuff Café server Taiwanese night market steak~~ I heard from Alice that the original owner decided to close down but recently the owner’s kids decided to reopen it at a new location with new flavors.

I ordered Top Sirloin Steak $12 which came with soup and bread. Both soup and bread isn’t bad~ My steak came out SMALL… Alice ordered the same thing but for some reason her steak looks much bigger! The black pepper sauce was pretty good!!!

Overall this place is so different compared to the typical Hong Kong style café. Small restaurant with friendly service. The steak is tasty but I think Lone Star is much much much better~~~Mmn… I think it’s time visit Lone Star Steak House~~~

PS I forgot my camera today so I grab the photos from others website~~~

315 S San Gabriel Blvd Ste A
San Gabriel, CA 91776

(626) 292-7975

www.hotstuff-cafe.com

Hot Stuff Cafe~

Garlic Bread - Came with the meal
Taste so so... the flavor is not in yet~

Corn Soup - Came with the meal
I think mine corn soup is better...

Top Sirloin w/fries $12

Taiwanese Intestine Noodle

My very first time making Taiwanese intestine noodle.
I gotta say taste very very good! I am very impressed with my own cooking now.. wahahaha Everything was from the package, all I did was just follow the instruction in the back. I added intestine that I bough from Sam Woo. YUM~~~ I guess next time I can make this dish to share with friends~

Fukada Restaurant

Finally I am back at Fukada~
This place is sooooo good!
As usual I ordered my favorite udon with Japanese wild veggie & spicy tuna don (rice). Toan ordered seafood salad and crunchy roll. As for Hong she ordered tonkitsu don.
I borrowed this camera from a friend...horrible Sony camera. Most of the photos are dark and blurry.
As for dessert Toan ordered fried ice cream~~~ I love fried ice cream but fukada makes it nasty~~~ Not good at all. I miss how my aunt/uncle makes it for me. I miss my uncle's sushi restaurant in Maryland.

West Coast Seafood Buffet

Went to West Coast Seafood Buffet at Hacienda Heights for dinner.
I heard tons of horro stories about this buffet, not that I wanna test my tummy out. The reason why I went there tonight is cuz I got $50 gift cert. Mom won this gift cert from some event. We are not a big fan of Buffet plus it's all the way up in Hacienda Heights... We been trying to give the gift cert. away but everyone we asked they simply reply errr WEST COAST, horrible food that can get you food poision! Hot foods are too salty, anything they can add water is too water down, and seafood are not fresh. Since the gift cert. will expire coming Monday I decided to take a risk of trying it out myself. ERRRR everyone was right, that place is over priced with horrible food! Todai is much much much better plus you won't have the fear of FOOD POISION!

The buffet is full of food everything looks interesting~~~ Since I read ALL the posts on YELP.COM I know what to eat and what not to eat. First I went for the hot food. The name tag next to the food are mostly WRONG~ So I just take the food that looks more tasty for me. I took a few bite of my hot food, mmn they are not hot. Did they forget to turn on the heat lamp or the food has been sitting there since lunch time??? No my friend mentioned to me that the food tasted like they been sitting there since yesterday. GROSS~~~ Next I went for the raw section (Sushi...) The raw fish has a funcky taste!!!! The rice they used are not sushi rice!!! GROSS~ The cooked rolls are not bad~ The crazy part is that the Sushi chef was on his cell phone yellowing while making sushi. >,< Lord~~ I never seen this before~ Soup is the next item I got... There are 4 different kinds of soups, I got three of them. GROSS, no need to describe in detail... simply GROSS. Oh, at 7pm the rest. were serving 1/2 of lobster per person. Mmn, I never seen lobster meat that's gray looking. The chef even tried to cover the gray meat by adding sauce on top of the meat. I think they bough lobsters that are DEAD! Nasty~ Double Nasty~ They did came out UNI SUSHI, not fresh at all. After one uni sushi I didn't even bother to get more. The dessert soup are very very water down and gross too! Even the ice cream is water down. While eating there I felt my skin was all itchy~ Good part about this place is that, the service is pretty good. They take away the plate as soon as I went for my next plate of nasty food. They didn't even question me about all the left over food. There are signs all over the rest. saying please do not waste food... blah...blah...blah... Man, if the quality of the food is good I don't think anyone would wanna waste the food!

Oh, gotta mention it cost $19 per person at dinner time. OVER PRICED!!! I rather go TODAI where I paid $40 dollars for a really good decent seafood buffet! TODAI has much much better sushi, lobster!!!!

I really wanna know where does WEST COAST BUFFET orders their products, cuz it's HORRIBLE!!! Quality of people who goes there are horrible too~ SAD~~~ I hope this place close down SOON, VERY SOON~

Valentine's Day Gift~

Surprised~ Surprised~ I got a Valentine's Day gift this year!!!
Wahahaha I love this gift~ It's from the TIFFANY store!
I am sure no girls would say no to this store!!!
Amazing pretty gift! I wanna this for a long long time~
Glad I finally received it!
Thanks to my very special friend~~~ ^_^

Mitsuru Cafe

Freshy made imagawayaki. YUM~

Shrimp balls on the left and Takoyaki on the right.
Takoyaki is pretty good...octopus inside...yum~

Shrimp balls... This is GOOD! I like it!

Love the takoyaki, so hot & fresh...it just melts in your mouth and bursts with flavor.
I also like the squid balls a lot. So much flavor to it!!!
Freshly made imagawayaki (Red Bean Sandwich) - not overly crispy pancake with hot azuki bean center. The price isn't bad for 2 imagawayaki, 1 shrimp ball, and 1 takoyaki...$6.50 Great afternoon snack~

117 Japanese Village Plaza Mall
Los Angeles, CA 90012
(213) 613-1028

Wakasa Dinner

Wakasa is a new restaurant in Little Tokyo. There are so many chain stores within Japan but here is the only store in USA. Of course I gotta try it out!!! I came around noon time and it was full of people waiting in line so I decided to eat here for dinner. I didn't know they are close at 9:30pm... when I show up at the restaurant it's already 9:15pm. They were very nice letting me in. I didn't really know what to order to I just order the Wakasa dinner for TWO. It has everything, I think this is way way way too much food for two people. I really like the food here!!! I will be back!

Pix of Don cover all over the whole store front!!!

Wakasa

Wakasa don... Dinner for two. It's HUGE!!! Very tasty!

The decoration of this rest. is pretty trendy!!! Good for friends & family gathering!

The Wakasa dinner for two is a real great deal! I love it when drink is included too!

Love drinking soda while eating dinner~~~ HAPPY~

The steamed egg and miso soup is really good! Eddamame, I didn't get a chance to try it...

Japanese American National Museum

Thanks for Target, I am able to visit the Japanese museum for FREE! I been to California for over 20 years but never been inside this museum. Sadly no photo at all inside the museum. This museum talks about how the first and second generation Japanese lived in California. The first & second generation went throught the War. The museum is very neat but small~



The museum was offering kids free cupcakes... Lucky me, they offered me the cupcake too!
Cupcake made from Dainty Cakes...mmn, I gotta say Sprinkles is much better!

Me and my free cupcakes~The whipcream on the top is very tasty~


Japanese American National Museum

369 East First Street

Los Angeles California 90012

phone: (213) 625-0414

The Grove

189 The Grove Dr

Los Angeles, CA 90036

After LACMA I noticed that The Grove and the Farmer’s Market is only few miles away. Drove by hoping I can pick up some yummy dinner. Sadly, the Farmer’s Market is closed by 7pm on Sunday. I walked around Grove but most of the stores are closing. I guess going to the GROVE around 8:30pm on Sunday is considered too late. I’ll come early next time~ I been here so many times but not sure if I ever post photos online.

The Grove is pretty famous for the water fountain... I took the photos late at night they are not as pretty as day times. I think this place is cool, plus they got Cheese Cake Factory here too!!! YUM~

Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA)

LACMA
2-8 M/T/Th • Closed Wednesday • 12-9 F • 11-8 S/S
5905 Wilshire Blvd • Los Angeles California 90036
323-857-6000

I heard about this museum of art but never been inside. Thanks for Bank of America I am able to visit this cool museum for free first Sat/Sun of every month for 2010. I guess if you come in after 5pm the museum is free anyways~ Well, I couldn’t take a lot of photos cuz 1. Some section doesn’t allow photos 2. 80% of 3^rd & 4^th floors are under construction. I guess since it’s free I shouldn’t complain about it right? ^_^~

In the 2^nd floor I saw whole section of Pablo Picasso’s work. I am sure everyone knows who Pablo Picasso. If not, here is a link about this famous artist! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pablo_Picasso

I am glad I don’t need to fly to Spain to see Picasso’s painting! I am glad I came here today~~~ I guess the second floor is the where they display the modern art. Some of the art works makes me feel that… I can do it too! Mmn… maybe I should have majored in Art instead of Urban Regional Planning. Oh, there are tons of security guards around the 2^nd floor. One lady security guard seems to like me to death, she follows me everywhere I go. (I had camera on my neck, and no photos on the 2^nd floor)

3^rd floor are European Art, painting like I see in my Art History textbook. Most drawings are GOD. Jesus, or something related to Churches. To me it’s not really interesting… I had to memorized too many of them during Art History classes.

4^thfloor is where they display special exhibition works, again no photos. On the 4^th floor they also display some Asian work of art! Most of the artworks are from South Asia; Elephant God, God with 1,000 hands, God with 4 heads, etc… I am amazed on how much art pieces they took from Thailand… Hopefully Thailand still have some antique artwork at their own country now!

Cool museum but if I really have to pay for it to get it…I’ll think about it~

so many light poles display in front of the museum.

I love it! It's so cool! I think I can submit the photo on the right to AT&T for the bar commercial!!

Artworks from the 2nd and 3rd flood! Can you believe that a chair and a lamp next to it is an artwork too! I can do that too!

I think the 4th floor is the best... I recalled my trip back to Thailand when I was 5. hahaha Time flyes~

Autry National Center

The Autry National Center, if I recalled correctly I been here when I was in elementary school. The school took us to Autry museum for a fieldtrip in 4^th grade where we learned about CALIFORNIA. This is a really small museum but thanks to Bank of America I can come here for FREE! I love free deals! This museum is full of how Cali looks like long long long time ago. There are so many displays of Cowboy things. I am not a big fan of cowboys so I think this place is so so. The best part I like about this museum is where they have a little section of the very first Chinese people from China. The museum have so many Chinese looking clothes for kids to dress up and take photos. That was fun! I dress myself up and took some photos… wahahaha the way I sat and the photo taken I felt like my great grandma. SCARY~

Autry National Center
4700 Western Heritage Way
Los Angeles, CA 90027

Tons of cowboy items...

hahaha me in dress up clothes~ lame~

Yup, from the photos you can tell I can't be a cowboy!

Huntington Library

Huntington Library~
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108-1218
(626) 405-2100

I always thought I never been to Huntington Library but I was wrong...
The moment I saw the ticket counters and gift shop I realized I been to this place when I was really little.
Well, this year I want to do some meaningful events where I will try check out at least one museum a month. This month I came to Huntington Library.
Very nice library, full with books, art paintings. Not only they are famous for books and painting, they are also famous for GARDENS!!!!
I didn't find the library part to be any fun... But I loved there garden!!!

The Huntington is situated on 207 acres in San Marino, California. In addition to the library and art galleries, 120 acres are maintained as botanical gardens for public enjoyment.

American Art Museum

The entire 2nd floor is full of books~ so cool!!!!

When I saw this Vault door I was like... huh? what is this for? what a vault door with locked gate???

Huntington Library - Japanese Garden

Welcome to the Japanese Garden!!!
Extremely pretty Japanese style plus Japanese house/building.
Feels like I am in Japan while walking around the area.
But that day was too cold, and I was too hungry...
Don't worry I'll be back during summer time~

Japanese tress, bridge, and bonsai... Yes, I feel like I am in Japan right now!

Pretty wooden stairs~

Japanese style entry way~

Welcome to the Bonsai garden!!!



Japanese style house!!!!

Interior of the house!

Interior of the house~

Bamboo trees...where is the panda?

Feels really fun walking inside this walk path!

extremely cool looking tree~