LA Wine Fest

Over the past few weeks, I've been struggling with what to post on the blog. Between Cameron starting his new job two(ish) months ago, and my finishing up my program (I passed my exams, woo hoo!), we honestly haven't been doing anything noteworthy. Seriously, not much has been going on. Well, I can recap a few mentionables before I get to the LA Wine Fest.

1. The weekend before Memorial Day Weekend, a few girls and I went to Las Vegas for a night. It was a pretty relaxed trip with my highlights being a quick trip to a Leonardo Da Vinci exhibit at the Venetian, playing a Star Wars slots machine (first time at a slot machine!) and being in bed before 1am.

2. I dropped my phone down the elevator shaft at my apartment about three weeks ago. A super handy neighbor retrieved it for me. But talk about dumb luck, right?

That's really been about it in news from of our lives. However! This past weekend, Cameron and I went to the LA Wine Fest with a friend of mine from the cohort and her fiancee. It was fun to sample different wines and beers (and snacks) and enjoy some time out in the sun. The gentlemen wanted "optimum tasting time," so we stayed from about 2:45-6pm (the Wine Fest started at 2pm). There were food trucks (so I was very happy) and different craft booths as well. I snagged a bunch of photos a local artist took around LA. I've got a project in mind for them, but more on that later :]

In case you've forgotten what we look like, here's some recent shots!

Chef

One of the things I appreciate the most about Los Angeles is the sheer amount of opportunities it provides. Whether that's for food, music, shopping, travel, films, whatever, there are plenty of options to try and see/experience things that you can't anywhere else. With the film industry every where over this city, it has been neat to see the different films that roll through the theaters, especially ones that aren't "blockbusters" or deemed potentially successful enough to be distributed nationwide. Cameron and I saw one such film last night: Chef is Jon Favreau's new film written and directed by him and has an great cast that includes Dustin Hoffman, Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson and Sofia Vergara. Cameron had mentioned wanting to see it earlier this week or last, and we had attempted to see it earlier this week, but we both feel asleep after a breakfast-for-dinner meal Cameron made... We were able to finally see it last night at the Arclight Cienmas, and we both agreed that it was one of the best movies we had seen in a long time. We've seen a few movies since we've been in Los Angeles, but they've been the blockbusters you can see anywhere- 300: Rise of an Empire, Rio 2, Captain America: The Winter Solider, you get the gist.

Chef follows Carl, an award winning chef in a rut who is fired/quits after a difficult review is posted about his food. Jobless, he ends up starting his own food truck.

Now, I'll be the first one to tell you that dramas aren't really my thing. I do enjoy them every now and then, but they're usually not my go-to film genre. I would say without reservation that I would happily own this film and watch it again. It is so good. We really enjoyed the casting and the story line; it was just so well told (people clapped at the end of the film, so I'll take that as validation of my opinion). Cameron had a sense of nostalgia watching it for his time on the BellyBombz truck, and it was fun for me to identify many of the food trucks in Los Angeles that we had eaten ate or I've seen consistently. For me, it was feeling famous-by-association since we could now recognize places and things in the film. It also made us want to eat a lot of food afterwards, and we secretly wished it was a real food truck we could find :[

If it does become a nationwide distribution, I would highly suggest seeing the film- or waiting for it to come to DVD.

Food in LA 2.0

I've realized that many of the places that I thought I posted about, I haven't. So, as a result, here's a HUGE post about places we've eaten at in the past six months or so. Some have been frequent repeats Fat Sal's, Blockhead's Shavery and some were one-offs. But it's definitely an exploration! We've been to a bunch of other places, but no photos were taken. Memorable recent places include The Park's Finest- Filipino/American fusion BBQ; Connie and Ted's Seafood- a taste of New England in LA! They had great chowder (or chowda as they say); 800 Degrees & Pitfire- individual gourmet pizza places (there's another one close to us that is double the price of 800 Degrees and Pitfire, and not as great to me).

Lobos Truck- I was not impressed. Cameron likes their sides.

Steel City Truck- Cameron was a fan. Coleslaw on a sammy? No thanks.

Corn Truck- Can't go wrong with spicy/cheesy corn on the cob!

Fluff Ice Truck/Store- Cute, but I like Blockheads better. Cameron attests that the truck is better than the storefront.

Blockhead's Shavery- I may be addicted. Cameron thinks so. They have a larger storefront in East LA- I cannot express the joy this discovery gave me.

Public School 310- Everything in this bar/restaurant is school themed! Tres cute!

TLT Food- Strangely addicting. They were one of the winners for Food Truck Wars or something and got this store front. It is very bright green, but then again TLT stands for "The Lime Truck."

Cafe Bene- A very cute cafe in KTown. I definitely enjoyed the coffee better than the waffles :[

Umami Burger- More hype than Cameron and I thought it deserved.

Fat Sal's- DELICIOUS GOODNESS. I have not veered from the "Fat Buffalo" since I got it… To give you an idea, this "Fat" sandwich is a hoagie stuffed with chicken tenders, mozzarella sticks, french fries, cheddar cheese and topped with buffalo sauce and bleu cheese dressing. There are days when I can finish it, and days where Cameron has a late night snack. We agree this is the best one on the menu (C has tried a significantly higher amount of sandwiches on the menu than I…at two).

Hot Dog on a Stick- Gotta have a CA classic

The Beignet Truck- A dream realized!  Still need to try these at the source in ole New Orleans.

Kogi- A LA Institution

Bruxie Waffles- This made me miss Dame's Chicken and Waffles in NC.

Rice Balls of Fury- Not as good as I was hoping.

It's Pho- So tasty! And so close to home

Happy New Year!

Whew, 2013 has definitely flown by for the both of us. 2014 for Cameron and I have some uncertainty in the upcoming months (hoping for jobs and maybe a more permanent location for more than a year, ha!) We'll see what comes in this new year!

P.S. We learned Gambit does not like the New Year's Eve horns... he gets a bit scared :(

Here's a fun little video I didn't know my phone made for me. There's a lot of Gambit photos, not surprising.

UCLA Day at the LA Fair

When the LA fair was running, UCLA offered free admission and $10 for guests to attend the fair. Cameron had the night off last minute, and I was already going with some of my cohort, so we all hoofed out to Pomona, CA, which is about an hour drive away (we carpooled, which I try to do as much as possible). I wasn't sure what I was expecting when I got to the fair, maybe something different from the NC State fairs I usually go to every year or so. It really wasn't that much different.

They had this cool gondola ride to see the fair from above!

So many ribs!

There was a truck that pulled this trailer with a live band on it. Cool idea, not so good for traffic.

My favorite part of the fair was the petting zoo, though the book exhibit was a fun second. You know you're from the country when you hear someone say, "What is that? Is that a cow?" and you don't know how to react to that question (and yes, I did overhear that). I always like looking at the animals, and there were a bunch of piglets! No llamas though. I feel like every fair needs at least one llama.

Babies!

Snack time!

Their tails were a-wagging and it was definitely super cute!

The book exhibit wasn't really about physical books, more so about what kids thought when reading them. They had some cool displays around; I liked their Wizard of Oz one.

I loved this!

I left the fair sans funnel cake, a decision I still regret to this day. Always get a funnel cake! There were a few food trucks at the fair and Cam and I ate at one called Calbi- a Korean fusion truck. My tacos were ok, but I think Cameron liked his burrito a lot. You live and learn with these food trucks for sure!