Wednesday, June 24, 2009

SeeDo: Transformers 2 in Westwood Village

Whenever I come across something like this in the middle of a normal day at work, I realize that if I ever leave Los Angeles, this will no longer be a common occurance.

Bumblebee Car

Optimus Prime

Bumblebee

They were also having a Linkin Park concert in the Village for the premiere. This is the stage area.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

NomNoms: Simpang Asia (Los Angeles)

Simpang Asia is a little Indonesian cafe and grocery store located in my neighborhood. Matt and I went here for the first time in the middle of May and have been back two more times since then. Why have we gone so many times, you ask? You will soon find out.

This concoction is not why. We made the mistake of stirring this thing one time and it was terrible. The brown stuff on the bottom is brown sugar so it mixed in with all the other stuff and it was basically like drinking sand.

This is also not why we have returned so many times in the last month. It is the nasi bungkus which is made up of steamed rice served w/ chicken curry, beef rendang, Balinese style egg, spiced potato w/ bits of chicken gizzard, and vegetable light curry wrapped in a banana leaf. I found it too bland.

The fried chicken was actually pretty good and I would order it again. The sauce is very sticky and sweet but it was a little too boney for me.

Finally, I present you the es teler. Jackfruit, young coconut meat, and avocado with shaved ice and condensed milk. It is soooo yummy. It's supposed to be a "drink" but to me, it is a dessert. I like to pretend that it's even a healthy dessert and then I remember the condensed milk. Oh well, it's still yummy.


Simpang Asia
10433 National Blvd,
Los Angeles, CA 90034

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Day 7: Complete Body Cleanse

I don't particularly feel cleansed and I definitely haven't lost any weight. I do, however, have very little appetite and feel gassy and bloated and need to go to the bathroom a lot.

Friday, June 05, 2009

Day 1: Complete Body Cleanse

I have lost my appetite. I took the pills last night and this morning. I went to the bathroom once and have not wanted to eat since I started taking the pills. Plus, my tummy feels a little strange. I've eaten two eggs, two rice cakes, a couple of cherries and carrots.

I'll report back later.

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Trader Joe's Complete Body Cleanse

So I've been feeling like I giant blob the last few months. I think I've reached the age when your metabolism stops being nice to you. I've been trying to eat right and go to the gym (granted, I'm not terribly disciplined at this), and still I have a pocket of fat on my belly and my pants are tiiiiight! So I've made a trip to Trader Joe's during lunch and picked up this little box of scary pills. It's the two-week "Trader Darwin's Complete Body Cleanse" which includes three bottles of pills: liver formula, disgestive formula, and fiber forumla.

Reviews I've read say that the cleanse is relatively mild since it's stretched over two weeks. The only problem I forsee is making myself swallow up to 8 pills a night. I'll let you know how it goes after I start tonight.


Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Weekend Getaways: Joshua Tree (part 3)

After visiting Split Rock, we hopped back into the car and drove to the north end of the park to do the 49 Palms Oasis hike. The trailhead is outside of the national park, near the city of Twentynine Palms.

The flora on the hike was not spectacular compared to what we had already seen, but seeing an oasis of palm trees in the middle of this uninviting, harsh landscape was something I didn't want to miss. The hike itself was only 3 miles roundtrip and took us about 2 hours to do including the time we spent relaxing at the oasis.


You can see the patch of palm trees in the middle of the desert landscape


Cactus along the trail


Quail along the hike

Arriving at the oasis

When I hear the word "oasis," I imagine a nice blue pool of fresh, clear water. What it really means is a festering tiny pool of green, stinky water. At least there was shade and interesting dragonflys buzzing around. I still think it was worth the journey to see the way nature can sustain itself in the middle of the desert.



Tons of hikers were just beginning their hikes as we were leaving the trail, by that time it was close to noon and it was pretty hot out. I'm glad we were finished with our most strenuous activities by that point in the afternoon.

Monday, June 01, 2009

Weekend Getaways: Joshua Tree (part 2)

Saturday, May 23rd

The tent was roasting by 7:30 in the morning and opening the vents would have just caused more heat to enter, so we were forced to start our day early. It turned out to be a good thing considering how hot it would be later on in the day. We quickly packed up the car and had some breakfast. In the daylight hours, we could finally enjoy our surroundings. Now I could see why this area is called "Jumbo Rocks."

Joshua tree in the sunrise

Campsite

Desert flora

Our first stop for the day was a short 1 mile roundtrip hike to Skull Rock. I was not extremely impressed with it.



Skull Rock

Scenery along our hike

Next we drove to another area of the park to see Split Rock, which is named for obvious reasons. We climbed into the split like dorky tourists too!

Split Rock